


Marinette Deserves Better: A Saltinette Fic

by OverEnthusiastic



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chameleon canon divergence, Emotional Charms Crossover: My story, I'll be adding the other pairings later on, Little bit of Lukanette, Magic AU, Marichat, Miraculous Ladybug Salt, Multi, NathMarc, Partially a salt fic, Saltinette, the other characters are from my own story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 32,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverEnthusiastic/pseuds/OverEnthusiastic
Summary: Marinette has about had it with the way her class treats her. Not one of them believes her, when she points out Lila's very obvious lies, and they have the gall to be upset with her for doing so. She finally decides that she's done being a part of a class that doesn't listen to her, so she takes up her mother's offer of switching schools. After all, her old friends understand her situation a lot better than any of her other friends ever could.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Woo! I finally got this up here. This work is already up on my tumblr, OverEnthusiasticCartoonLover, but once I get the first four chapters up on here, I'll be updating here first. Emotional Charms is my own story, and Rebel and the others are my own characters. This is a crossover fic with them.

Marinette holds her tablet to her chest, looking up at the Suerste school grounds. She made her decision two days ago, and her mother was more than on board with it. Her father was understandably worried for her, but he also agreed that this might be better for her, especially with the way her so-called friends were treating her.

She squares her shoulders and walks into the Commons Building. Tikki’s been surprisingly quiet all day, and Marinette doesn’t know how to take that, worrying that she’s lost another friend.

“Marinette!” Marinette squeaks when she’s scooped up in a bear hug, by a familiar brown skinned girl.

“Rebel! Could you put me down, please?”

Rebel sets her down, her face split into a bright smile, “Not that I’m not incredibly happy to see you, rosita, but what are you doing here? I thought you’d decided to stay at your non-magic school, until you graduated there.”

Marinette hugs herself, looking away from Rebel, “Things happened. I didn’t feel welcome there anymore, so I decided to transfer over early.”

Rebel reaches over and sets a hand on her shoulder, “Dang. I’m sorry, amiga. Do you want to talk about it, or would you rather me introduce you to everyone?”

“Introduce me to everyone else, please. It’s been too long.” Marinette looks up at her, Rebel’s green eyes nothing but gentle.

“That is has. We’ve got a few newbies in class, oh, and I’ve got a couple new siblings, Rey and Mona. Mona’s actually biologically my half sister, and Rey was adopted from an abusive non-magic family, so don’t mention anything about her being a non-magic, please. She’s already really sensitive about it.” Rebel starts up the stairs, to the commons room, happily telling Marinette all about some of their newest classmates.

Marinette just smiles, as she listens to Rebel talk, happy that one of her oldest friends is still here for her.

\---

It’s been a week since Marinette left Collége François Dupont, and she’s so glad she did. Her magic’s improved greatly since she switched over, and she’s not worrying so hard about her grades taking a hit, when she has to go fight an akuma, which has happened twice since she switched schools. Rebel and her other classmates always keep her updated about what she missed, and her professors don’t even question her leaving class to deal with akuma.

The best part is, everyone in her class is incredibly supportive of her, and no one gets mad at her for calling out people on their lies, everyone in class can see the deceit just as well as she does.

She should have switched schools when her parents offered on her birthday. Her life’s been so much easier. Tikki’s even seen how much better she’s doing, and is coming around to them switching schools.

She still hasn’t talked to any of her old classmates, and she’s still very upset with them, having taking all the pictures of her old class and friends down. She didn’t throw them away though, she just put them at the bottom of her ‘rejects’ drawer.

The only person that she’s allowed to contact her since the Lila event, as Marinette’s dubbed it, is Prof. Bustier, who called to make sure she was doing okay, and that she’d settled into her new school alright. Marinette was very grateful for the call, and she made sure to tell Prof. Bustier so, thanking her, and telling her that she’s settled into her new school wonderfully, before explaining that she’s got a few old friends that go there too.

Right now she’s working on a new project, for Lucie’s birthday. Lucie may be a class above them, but she’s still one of Marinette’s friends, and she and Akash are always hanging out with the class. Lucie was super interested in these crocheted headbands that a bunch of people keep wearing, so that’s what Marinette’s going with. It’s actually a bit of a challenge to make.

Marinette raises an eyebrow when her phone buzzes, before chuckling and opening it, thinking it must be Rebel, trying to get her to come over again. She doesn’t even look at the caller ID, holding it up to her ear, “Hey, Rebel. I told you, I’m working on a project to-”

“It’s not Rebel.” Alya’s voice comes over the phone, not sounding happy at all. Marinette freezes in place, slowly setting down her project, “Marinette, why isn’t your mom letting me come up to see you?”

Marinette leans her elbows on her desk, her eyes pooling with tears already. She doesn’t say anything for a minute, Alya doing the same. Marinette sucks in a deep breath, calming herself down, “She knows I only want my friends coming over now, that’s why.”

“Girl, I am your best friend, and I am worried. You haven’t been to school in over a week, and your parents won’t tell me anything, and you’ve blocked my number. I’m using my dad’s phone to call you. Did the whole deal with Lila really get to you that bad? You know you’re being unreasonable, right? You can’t just accuse someone of lying, because you’re-”

“If you dare say because I’m jealous, I’m never talking to you again.” Marinette hisses into the receiver, pushing herself up from her chair to pace her room, “I am not being unreasonable, and I thought as my quote best friend unquote, that you’d be there for me and back me up, especially when everyone in the cafeteria turns on me for calling out a serial liar, or when everyone switches seats around on me, and forces me to sit alone in the back, or be there for me when I run off to the bathroom crying, and nearly get akumatized. So, no, Alya, you’re not my best friend anymore, because best friends don’t treat each other like that.”

Alya stays silent for a long moment, before Marinette hears a deep sigh from the other end of the phone, “Okay, I admit, making you sit in the back was a dick move, and I should have at least went to go comfort you after the cafeteria incident, and I’m sorry about that, but you can’t avoid school forever. You’ve already missed one big assignment, and three little ones.”

“I’m not coming back to school.”

“Girl, don’t be dramatic. We both know your mom won’t be okay with you avoiding school, and your parents don’t have the time to home school you.”

“Good thing I switched schools then.” Marinette sets her jaw, her heart giving out a sad, but angry pang. Tikki flies over to her shoulder and nuzzles her cheek as a gesture of comfort.

“...You what?”

“I switched schools, and honestly, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”

“Marinette, why would you switch schools? All your friends are here. You know this is just a thing we can get over, right?”

“I switched schools to be with my friends, Alya. It seems as if the only friend I have left at François Dupont is Marc, and he’d be thinking about transferring if it wasn’t for Nathaniel.” Marinette sits down on her chaise, tugging out one of her pigtails, “I should have switched schools on my birthday, when my mom offered, to be honest with you, but we can’t change the past.”

“You can’t just leave. You’re our class president, our friend. I’ve never met any of your other friends that aren’t from here.”

“I can leave, and I did leave. Prof. Bustier knows I switched schools, and just because you’ve never met my other friends, doesn’t mean I don’t have them. You can just find a new class president, because that’s not going to be me anymore. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’ve got a friend to meet up with.”

“Wait, Marinette. At least tell me what school you’re going to now.”

“Alya, even if you try looking it up, you won’t find it.”

“Please tell me the name of your new school.”

“No. Goodbye, Alya.” Marinette hangs up the phone, before massaging her temples. She looks at her phone for a minute, before changing her calling preferences, then dialing a number.

She holds the phone up to her ear, sighing in relief when they answer, “¿Bueno?”

“Hey, Rebel. Does your offer of game night still stand?”

“Of course! Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“No.”

“Alright. We’ll make some extra then, come on over whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you so much, Rebel.”

\---

“So, you wanna talk about what’s making you so tense?” Rebel’s settled on his couch, next to Marinette, the rest of the Huang’s, and quite a few of their classmates settled around the TV, playing a hacked version of Mario Kart, that Angel and Rapunzel somehow made sixteen player.

Marinette leans back against the couch, after getting hit with the blue shell, “Ugg, it’s just my stupid supposed friends from François Dupont. Alya called me from her dad’s phone to basically say I flipped out over Liar Lila, because I was jealous of her going after Adrien, and not because she got the whole class to rearrange seats to sit me alone in the back, without my input, humiliate me in front of the whole school, and she keeps getting away with her absolutely ridiculous lies.

I thought Alya was supposed to be on my side, but no, she’s not, and no one else from that class is either, and I’m tired of her trying to say I’m just jealous of anyone and Adrien, when I literally went on a double date to make sure he wouldn’t get too nervous with Kagami. And she’s a reporter! You’d think she’d know better, but no. She seems to think I’m just being silly about everything, and expects me to go back to being a doormat for goodness sake. I’m so tired of apologizing for things that I shouldn’t have to apologize for. I’m allowed to be upset about these things.”

“That you are.” Rebel leans against her shoulder comfortingly, “I’m sorry your non-magic friends are being jerks.”

“You’ll always have us though.” Nash reminds her, reaching over to pat her head from the other side of Rebel.

Marinette looks in between them, then nods and leans into Rebel’s affection, “I know. Thanks you guys.”

“Mmhmm.” Rebel presses a kiss to the top of her head, before turning back to the game, “Just remember that you’re always allowed to kick toxic people out of your life, and it’s okay to be upset about the relationship you’ve lost. You can miss the person you thought they were.”

Marinette sniffles at that, nodding her head, turning back to her controller, “Thanks, Rebel.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Marinette's decision, and a bit of MariChat for the soul. Also introducing Marinette's magic

Alya walks into the classroom, settling down in her old seat, with a heavy thunk. Her eyes are red, and she knows it. She messed up big time, and she doesn’t know if she can fix it. 

“Hey, babe. What’s wrong?” Nino settles down next to her and rubs her back calmingly.

She just shakes her head, running a hand through her hair, “I-I called Marinette last night.”

“Marinette? Is she doing okay? When’s she coming back to school?” Adrien immediately twirls around in his seat, looking at Alya with big eyes.

Alya chokes back another sob, looking at Adrien, “She’s not coming back to school. She said I’m not her best friend anymore, and that she only has one friend left at this school. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have made her feel so excluded.”

“Woah, woah. It’s okay. I’m sure this is just a little disagreement, Alya.” Nino wraps one arm around her, reaching over to wipe away her tears, “She can’t possible stay away from school. Her parents can’t home school her.”

“She switched schools, Nino, and she won’t tell me what school she switched to.” Alya starts crying in earnest again, “This is all my fault. I should have been a better friend. I should have gone after her, after the cafeteria incident. She said she almost got akumatized, and now she won’t answer, no matter what phone I use to call her.”

Adrien’s eyes widen in worry, leaning against the back of his chair, “Why would she switch schools, and what school would even let her transfer over this late in the year?”

“What are you guys talking about?” Lila sets down her bag on the table, sliding into her seat.

“Marinette switched schools.” Nino turns to Lila, still rubbing Alya’s back.

“I don’t know, Adrien. She said she didn’t have any friends left here, aside from Marc. I know she can be stubborn sometimes, so I thought she’d be right back in school after she’d calmed down, but she already told Prof. Bustier about her transfer, and she only answered the phone, because she thought I was someone named Rebel.” Alya slumps against the desk, looking absolutely defeated, “I should have noticed she was so upset and lonely. What kind of a useless best friend am I?”

“You’re not a useless best friend. She made her decision, and didn’t include you in it.” Lila points out, leaning back against her seat.

Adrien pinches the bridge of his nose, “You are kind of right, Lila, but Marinette was hurting when she made her decision. We need to talk to her. Have you tried her house?”

“Yes. Her parents won’t let me in. Mme. Cheng even banned me from the bakery until this blows over.” Alya rubs her eyes, glaring at the table, “And Marinette won’t tell me her new school, so I can’t ambush her there.”

“Why don’t we leave her alone? She seems to want her space.” Lila crosses her arms.

“It’s not like we have a choice.” Alya presses her face into the table, earning a couple of worried looks from the students filtering into the classroom, “She’s not answering any phone I’ve tried, and I tried a library phone, and we don’t know her school, and we can’t talk to her at home.”

“We can’t give up that easy.” Adrien gives Alya a determined look, “Marinette is our friend, and we can’t leave her upset.”

“Well, what do you think we should do? I’ve tried everything I can think of.” Alya looks up from her arms, tears pooling in her eyes again.

“Well, first we look at all the schools she could have possibly transferred over to and narrow them down.” Adrien gets out his tablet, turning to work on it, “And then we go talk to her.”

Alya opens her mouth to say something, before Prof. Bustier gets class started.

 

\---

 

Adrien may have lied to Alya about his exact plan to find out Marinette’s new school, but it’s not like he can actually tell her. 

Chat Noir lands on Marinette’s balcony railing, waiting for her to come out, like she usually does on his patrol night. 

Right on cue, Marinette climbs out onto her balcony and positively beams at him, “What’s up, kitty cat?”

He feels a fond rumble start up in his chest. Man he missed her this week, “Nothing much, Purrincess. How has your week been?”

Marinette sighs softly, leaning against the railing next to him, “It’s been a mess, honestly. I’m glad to see you, though. Those akumas you fought this week seemed pretty fierce.”

“That they were.” Chat Noir kicks out his feet to sit on his behind, before tilting his head at her, “You wanna talk about your mess of a week? I’m all ears.”

He wiggles his ears a little, earning a laugh in return. Marinette leans her arms on the railing, “Well, it’s a little complicated, but I switched schools. Honestly, it’s been a long time coming. For all my old classmates said they liked me, they really didn’t treat me like it, and I was always apologizing to everyone for something, even if I shouldn’t have had to apologize. It’s the best decision I’ve made yet, though. I love my new school. I was going to be going there after graduation from lycée anyway, but I don’t regret transferring early. I’ve got a couple of my childhood friends there. The class is very close, but Rebel talks about me enough, so I fit right in.”

“I’m glad you like it so much.” Chat’s aura holds a bit of sadness, something Marinette’s gotten much better at reading. His tail swishes behind him, “Is it a private school, or something? I’ve never heard of a school that goes beyond lycée, without being a university.”

Marinette watches him carefully, “I go to Suerste École. If you don’t know what that means, then you won’t understand exactly what it is.”

Chat blinks in surprise, crossing his legs and clasping his hands together, “I’ve heard my mom mention it before. I think she wanted me to go there, before things happened.”

Marinette positively lights up, her eyes seeming to turn a deep violet, “I knew it! You’ve got to be a magic! I’m guessing altered magic. I’m a creative magic.”

Chat nearly falls off the balcony, only righting himself with his tail and one leg. He climbs back over the railing and gives her his full attention, “Magic? Why are you talking about magic?”

Marinette chuckles at that, wiggling in her spot a little, “Suerste is a magic school, the only one in Paris too. If your mom wanted you to go there, or even mentioned it to you, then you must be a magic, which means I can tell you about magic! It’s such a pain having to hide my magic from everyone outside of the magic arrondissements, and it’s even more difficult, when I’m trying to explain how I know certain things to non-magics.”

“Wait, wait, slow down please. I’m still stuck on people other than those carrying magic jewels having magic. What do you mean you have magic, and there are others with magic?” Chat Noir’s eyes are the size of saucers, making Marinette reach forward to scratch behind his ears, her eyes gaining a fond light.

“Yes. There’s a bunch of us with magic. We’ve got a full four magic oriented arrondissements, and Bois de Vincennes, all of which are a lot bigger than non-magics will be able to notice. The transportation is a lot different outside of the main streets that non-magics travel through, making them see nothing out of their usual.” Marinette moves her hand away from Chat Noir, before smiling brightly and manifesting a ribbon, that winds around her hand, “See, I’m a creative magic. Prof. Inire says I’m one of the strongest creative magics she’s seen in a while, aside from Nash, who’s already a full creative magic. I’m on my way to being a full creative magic. I’m sure if you had a training course, then you’d be some kind of altering magic. Are you into the way things work and what goes into them?”

“Very.” Chat Noir watches the ribbon, before reaching out and batting at it, “Wow, It’s real. How did you do that?”

“I pulled my own energy and magic to manifest it.” Marinette moves the ribbon around in front of him, watching him track it with his eyes, like a real cat, “My magic’s been getting stronger ever since I switched schools, and I’m actually really satisfied with it. Rebel’s convinced me to join her aerial manifestation and dance team, and I’m pretty confident in my skills now. Competitions are in March, in the Chandier Building, a little into arrondissement thirteen, if you wanna come watch. Just go into almost any shop in that arrondissement on the twelfth of March, and ask for directions to the aerial manifestation competitions. I’ll be Seamstress. I’m in a group with my friends. I’m so excited for it. I haven’t had time for competitions, since the first year I had magic strong enough to perform.”

“I’ll put it on my calendar.” Chat Noir runs a hand through his hair, looking at her face again, “Is there going to be a big crowd?”

“Yep. It’s a very popular performance sport in the magic community.”

“Could you tell me more about the magic community, and magic in general?” Chat Noir clasps his hands together nervously, “My mom hasn’t told me anything about it.”

“I’d be more than happy to. Let me go get snacks. I’ll be right back up.” Marinette grins at him, before climbing down into her trap door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes on a hunt to talk to Marinette. It goes a little differently than they expect.

Adrien rubs his eyes, when he meets up with Alya and Nino before school the next day, still processing everything Marinette told him.

“Adrien! So I talked to Marc, and we got him to tell us what school Marinette goes to. Nino and I are skipping last period today, to go talk to her. Apparently her classes get out earlier than ours. Are you in?” Alya seems to be doing a lot better, a bit of that strong glimmer in her eyes again.

“Of course. Did you manage to find the address?” Adrien sets one hand on his bag strap, fighting a yawn.

“Marc gave it to us, but it’s not showing up on GPS, so we’re just going to have to go it on foot.” Alya looks him over after a moment, “Are you sure you can come with us, sunshine? You look like you hardly slept last night.”

“I just didn’t sleep very well. I’ll be fine. Talking to Marinette is the most important thing.”

“Whatever you say, dude. You need to take a nap after we talk to her at least.” Nino pats his shoulder.

“I will certainly try if I can. I’ll be skipping my Chinese lesson, but my new teacher is pretty lax.” Adrien thinks to himself, “Let’s just not let Lila in on the plan. Marinette won’t want to see her, and Lila might insist on coming with us.”

“We certainly didn’t plan on telling her anything. I still don’t get Marinette’s issue with her though. She keeps saying that she has a gut feeling that Lila’s lying, but she has no proof to back it up.” Alya pinches the bridge of her nose, unaware of Adrien’s epiphany next to her, “Either way, that’s no reason to switch schools entirely on us.”

Adrien opens his mouth, then closes it, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Let’s get to class, please. The faster we get through school, the faster we get to go see Marinette.”

Nino and Alya share a smirk, neither saying anything, as they follow him up the stairs.

 

\---

 

“I think we’ve gone this way already, Nino. Let me try again.” Alya takes her phone back from him, the two griping over the map they haven’t managed to figure out.

Adrien sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, “I’m going into this shop to ask for directions. I’ll be back in a minute.”

The two just give him a nod, requesting he get them water when he goes in. He rolls his eyes at them, walking into the shop. He’s actually a little excited to go on this mini-adventure with his friends, incognito today, with one of Nino’s spare outfits, one of Nino’s hats, and the blue scarf his father got him for his birthday.

 

He grabs three waters and heads up to the counter, smiling at the cashier, “Hi there. I was wondering if you could give me directions to Suerste École. My friend invited me to watch her work on her aerial manifestation routine, but she forgot to tell me how to get to the school.”

“Yeah. you just keep along this road and turn left at Nuit. Keep going until you cross the enchantment line, then get on the trolley, and get off at Suerste,” The cashier looks him over, then smiles and rings up his waters, “Are you homeschooled, or did you decide to stay in a non-magic school for a little bit?”

“I choose to stay in my non-magic school with my friends, but my other friend decided to go to Suerste, so I’m trying to support her.” Adrien pays for them, rubbing the back of his neck.

“She’s very lucky to have you then. I’ve seen the magic, non-magic school decisions tears some friendships apart.” The cashier smiles at him, then waves him off, “Have a good day.”

Adrien returns the sentiment, before heading out to meet up with Alya and Nino, handing them their water bottles, “Follow me. The cashier said there’s a trolley off Rue Nuit that should take us right to it.”

“Finally!” Alya follows after him, taking a drink of her water.

\---

Adrien sighs in relief, when the other two manage to get over the enchantment line. He was worried about whether or not they’d be able to cross, as Marinette was explaining how they work to him last night.

Now that they’re on the trolley, Adrien can relax a little, readily taking in their surroundings. He almost can’t believe they’re still in Paris, everything around here green, and efficient. Even the buildings are designed to maximise use and keep the place looking as a part of nature as everything else.

“Wow, I’ve never been in this part of Paris before. It’s beautiful.” Alya leans her head on the window next to him, Nino following suit after a minute.

The three get off, when they get to their stop, standing in front of the Suerste campus with varied looks of shock.

“Wow. This is a really nice private school.” Alya comments, setting a hand on her hip, “Now, we just need to figure out where Marinette is.”

The boys nod their agreement, all of them heading for the building in the center of campus.

The three don’t notice a girl watching them approach, tucked into the spot on top of the overhang above the door. She scrunches her nose and climbs down, after they pass, following them at a safe distance.

The first person they happen to cross is a pale girl settled into a reading nook in the hallway, her face turned away from them. She seems to be doing something on her tablet. 

Alya goes over and taps on the wall next to her, “Hi there. Would you mind helping us?”

The girl jumps, just barely saving her tablet from falling to the ground. Alya takes a step back from her, when she catches sight of her eyes, one a normal brown color, and the other an unnatural ice blue. 

The girl blinks a couple of times, “Um, hi? How did you get here? Did someone invite you, and if so, why aren’t they with you?”

“Uh, we just walked up to your campus. No one invited us. We’re looking for our friend. Have you met a Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” Alya stares at her, tampering down all her other questions in favor of finding Marinette.

The girl’s eyes widen, and she shuts off her tablet, tucking it into her bag, “You’re looking for Marinette, and you’re not from this side of town, I assume?”

“We aren’t, but what does that matter?” Alya crosses her arms, looking back at Adrien and Nino, “Can you take us to her?”

“Um, no? Marinette doesn’t want to see you.” The girl holds her bag to her chest, looking around the hall, “I don’t know how you even got to the school, but you need to leave.”

“We’re not leaving, until we see Marinette.” Nino mimics Alya’s posture, Alya nodding her agreement.

The girl frowns, before turning down the hall. She gets out her phone, and dials a number, not batting an eye, when the group starts following her, “Hey, Rebel. It’s Rey. We’ve got an issue. Nette’s supposed friends somehow found their way onto campus, and are demanding to see her.”

Alya scrunches her nose, calling out to this Rebel person, “We’re not leaving, until we see Marinette.”

“Yes, that was one of the supposed friends. She’s kinda pushy. We’re in the commons hallway. I’m leading them to a group room. I don’t think we’d want them disturbing the other students. You know how they got with me.” Rey opens the door to what looks like a really comfy study room, “Go in, please. Not talking to you, hermana. Oh, hush. Your habits are sticking with me.”

Alya looks at Nino, then Adrien, before speaking up, “We’re not going in, unless you can guarantee that Marinette will be here.”

Rey frowns at them, “Please get here soon. They’re being stubborn.”

Rey ends the phone call, holding the door open insistently.

“You’re being too gentle with them, sis.” A voice sounds from behind the group, Alya, Adrien, and Nino turning to see a dark skinned girl with lilac eyes. She steps forward and watches the three passively, “If you don’t get in the group room, then you’re going to be dealing with a very angry student body. We don’t take well to uninvited non-magics in our school building.”

“Mona!” Rey looks at the other girl sternly.

Mona just shrugs her shoulders, placing her hands in her pockets, “What? This is magic territory. I’m not hiding on our own terf.”

“You don’t have to tell them that! We could’ve gotten them to leave before they saw anything!” Rey covers her face with a groan.

“I’m sorry. What’s this talk about magic?” Alya looks between the two, her eyes growing big, Nino looks much the same, while Adrien just tucks his head awkwardly.

“Looks like I just found the reason they got on campus.” Mona clicks her tongue, “Get in the group room and we’ll tell you.”

Alya immediately starts for the group room, the other two following, while Rey sighs in relief, her and Mona following them in, “I already called Rebel. She should be on her way. How much did you catch?”

“All of it. I followed them in.” Mona looks over at her, “Good thing I did. You’re terrible at getting people to do things.”

“I don’t like it. It makes me feel icky.” 

“Yeah, I figured it would.” Mona pats her head comfortingly, before turning to the confused non-magics.

“So, are you going to tell us what you’re talking about with magic? Are you just messing with me? Is that why your eyes look so weird?” Alya sets her hands on her hips, eyes darting between the two. She catches Rey wince from her statement.

“Call them weird again, and I’ll personally kick you back over the enchantment line.” Mona’s voice is rather passively toned, although it holds quite the bite.

“Okay, sorry. Jeeze.” Alya raises her hands in defense, “It’s a fair question from my standpoint.”

“It’s not a nice question.” Rey reaches up and fiddles with the necklace she’s wearing, “From a magic standpoint, your eyes are the weird ones, and I don’t think you’d like us calling them that.”

“We’re getting off topic. We’re just looking to talk to Marinette.” Adrien crosses his arms, “Can we please go talk to her? We’ve got to apologize to her.”

“While, I’m glad you’re thinking about apologizing to her; she’s not ready to talk to you yet.” Mona leans against the wall by the door, “And I don’t appreciate you bringing in two non-magics, without telling them anything. You should know how dangerous that could be for them.”

“I just want to talk to Marinette. Please, will you let me talk to her?”

“Considering that he’s just a weak magic, he should be able to get through campus just fine.” Rey mumbles to Mona, Adrien barely catching it.

“We’ll wait for Rebel.” Mona peeks behind the curtains next to the door.

“Who is this Rebel person? Marinette was talking about them too.”

Mona looks back at Alya, “Our sister. She’s been friends with Marinette since they were little. Meili is really good friends with Sabine.”

“Okay, and how are you two related?” Alya raises an eyebrow at them, making Rey self-conscious again.

“I’m adopted.” Rey crosses her arms across her chest, leaning her head against the door, before squeaking when it opens.

Rebel raises an eyebrow at her sister, ruffling her hair fondly, “You know I was going to open the door eventually, gatito tonto.”

Rey sticks her tongue out at the brown skinned girl, before moving out of the way, so Rebel can come in. She blinks when Angel follows after his twin, stopping to hug Rey and Mona.

“So, what’s everyone’s names?” Rebel starts with, her eyes a much more unnatural shade of green than Adrien’s, but still very similar.

The group gets introductions out of the way, Rebel having jumped up onto the counter next to the sink. She gets their side of the story, before tilting her head and explaining what Marinette told her.

“I’m worried to let you talk to Marinette. You really hurt her you know?” Rebel finishes with, Rey and Mona having left sometime during their talk.

The three of them just nod their heads, each looking guilty.

“That being said. I still have to pass you through Lucie, and we’ve got practice in, like ten minutes, so you’ll have to see her either way. I figure if you went through so much trouble to see her, then you can’t be that bad, and it’s not like we can’t incapacitate you if need be.” Rebel shrugs her shoulders and jumps down from the counter, “I think Lucie should be in the student council office. She’s working on the Heart’s Ball today, right?”

“Yeah. I still don’t know if I want them near Nette though.” Angel crosses his arms, scrunching his nose when Rebel bops it.

“That’s up to Nette, hmm?” Rebel grins at him, before opening the door to the hall, “Follow me. We’ve got to check you guys in.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finally gets to talk to Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, there is cussing in this, if you're sensitive to that. That's why it's rated teen.

Alya raises her eyebrow at the little visitor badge she was given, feeling pretty silly about it.

“At least the other students won’t be forcing you off campus now.” Rebel seems to read her thoughts, earning a surprised and wary look from Alya.

“How did-”

“I’m an emotional magic. I can read all your emotions, instead of just the basic emotions every magic sees.” Rebel explains, watching the boys get their badges, before escorting them down the hall and out of the building.

Alya has a million and one questions about that, before settling on the one that makes her feel the worst, “So, does that mean Marinette’s gut feeling was just her magic telling her that Lila was lying?”

“Yes. Deceit is one of those necessary to read emotions, that every magic can detect. It keeps our politics clean, and shows you who you can trust.” Angel speaks up this time, his hands in his pockets as they walk, “You really should have believed her, or at least been suspicious. Marinette says that their lies were really outlandish, and could easily be debunked by a quick fact check. Nette doesn’t go after people for no reason.”

Alya just winces, for once not having a response to that.

Rebel leads them out to another building, which she calls the physical building. They follow her up a flight of stairs, coming out on a balcony-like section, about six or seven meters above a regular gym floor, with a single tightrope set at least nine meters above it. Someone’s out on the tightrope right now, a small group of people settled down on the edge of the railing-less balcony. 

Rey and Mona are there, seated along the edge with two other people, no doubt talking about what happened to them today.

“Where’s Marinette?” Alya leans forward to whisper to Rebel. 

Rebel just grins in response, settling down in an open spot near the end of the balcony, “She’s just about to start her performance. Come and sit down, and no talking during the performance.” 

“What performance? And how can we see her from here?” Alya settles down behind her, the boys following suit, before being met with a, shh, from a redheaded boy.

“You’ll see, now hush.” The redhead whispers back at her, leaning into Rebel’s space.

Music filters into the gymnasium, as the person on the tightrope jumps down, a huge pink and white spotted ribbon manifesting below and catching her, acting like a floor. Different colors of ribbons manifest around her immediately afterwards, a collection of thirteen different colored ribbons circling underneath her, and seventeen solid colored ribbons, with one black and green one just hanging above her.

Alya finally recognizes Marinette, hardly believing her eyes, when she sees her normally clumsy friend start moving, keeping her balance on the pink-spotted ribbon.

The words of the song start, and a soft blue and green ribbon flies up from the spiraling ribbons below her. Marinette dances in a circle around her ribbon, which is moving itself, the blue and green ribbon twirling around her. Marinette reaches out to the ribbon, letting it hold her weight, and pull her from her own ribbon, as she does a series of acrobatic moves, causing Adrien, Alya, and Nino’s jaws to drop.

The ribbon starts slipping a little, before a red-orange ribbon flies into her path, and causes her to fully lose her grip. She falls right past her spotted ribbon, into the frey of the ribbons below her. She tries to hold onto the other ribbons, each slipping away from her, after she catches and spins or lands on them, until the black and green ribbon flies out from above her, moving into her reach. Marinette grabs onto it, and pulls herself up, while it molds itself into a flat surface, from which she back springs back up to her ribbon with. 

She bows to the black and green ribbon, the ribbon doing the same, before she continues with her dance, adding a few different moves and flips into it. The ribbon follows her for a couple of beats, then returns to its spot above her.

Two ribbons fly up from below her this time, a red and blue one, and a flannel one. She flips up, hanging off the flannel one with her legs and using her momentum to swing her up onto said ribbon. Rebel makes a proud noise at that. 

Marinette dances atop the flannel ribbon, the blue and red ribbon moving to wind around the other one, until the ribbons start to wobble under her.

A dark green and a dark blue ribbon fly out towards her, just as the other two give out. She just barely falls past her own ribbon again, before grasping onto both ribbons coming to her aid. They help her get back down to her ribbon, the rest of the ribbons from above her coming down and letting her do a couple of flips and acrobatic feats off them, as the ribbons below her start to fall away one by one.

Her movements wind down with the end of the song, the ribbons all melting into one big ribbon below her, which she settles into happily, as it forms a swing, attaching to the tight wire. 

She finishes out her performance by manifesting a sewing needle and thread, stitching a heart, that gets bigger, then shrinks and flies to attach itself to her chest.

The song ends, and the group on the balcony gives out a cheer, Rebel letting out a breath, in an imitation of a low whistle. She leans back and looks at Alya, Nino, and Adrien, “I think it’s safe to say she’s pretty upset with you guys.”

Alya just groans and presses a hand to her forehead, “If I’m guessing what the ribbons represent right, then yeah. We’ve got a lot of apologizing to do.”

“Wow. I didn’t know Marinette could move like that.” Adrien watches Marinette get back up to the tightrope, then walk along a ledge on the wall, back over to them.

“Bro, did you even catch how mad Mari is at us?” Nino waves a hand in front of his face, Adrien looking back at him from Marinette.

“Kinda, but I planned on apologizing to her for the next couple of days anyway. I’d apologize for years if I had to.” Adrien leans his head on his hand, letting his sight trail back to Marinette.

Rebel giggles at the aura around him, leaning back on her hands, “Wow, he’s rather gone for her, isn’t he?”

“Finally. We’ve been trying all year to get them together, to no avail.” Alya rolls her eyes, before pinching the bridge of her nose, “If she’s even still into him.”

“Nice job, Nette. I thought you were going with a seductress theme though?” A girl with dark skin and curly hair raises an eyebrow at the half-chinese girl.

“I am, that was just me working out my frustrations this week. I’m still trying to figure out if the stitched heart looks like a good ending signature.” Marinette takes out her pigtails, before retying them again.

“I think it looks great.” Rey jumps up and wraps Marinette in a hug, before nervously side-eyeing Alya, Nino, and Adrien, “We’re all here for you, remember that.”

“I know you are.” Marinette squishes Rey in an enthusiastic hug. She turns to look for Rebel, her expression immediately plummeting, as she crosses her arms, “Rebel. How did they get into the school?”

“The blond one dragged them in.” Mona leans back on her hands with a huff, “Not Rebel’s interference for once.”

Rebel pulls herself up from her spot, the redheaded boy standing with her, “To be fair, I did authorize them with Lucie. They seem to want to apologize, Nette.”

“Yeah? Well, I don’t want to hear it.” Marinette goes over to the edge of the balcony and sits herself down in between Mona and the curly haired girl, “Whose turn is it next?”

“Mine, but I wanna know what’s the deal with the non-magics.” A girl with half shaved short red hair pulls herself up from hanging upside-down off the balcony, grinning over at the three newcomers, “Are these the supposed friends you keep talking about?”

“Please just go, Cerise.” Marinette fixes her with an exasperated look.

Mona snorts at that, pushing herself up into a standing position “I’ll go instead. I think we all know Cerise won’t go until she’s got her answers.”

“Awh! Come on, Mona. Don’t you wanna know more about the assholes that abandoned our Nette?” Cerise jumps up from her spot, leaning on Mona’s shoulder.

“No.” Mona shrugs her off, heading for the ledge, so she can cross to the tightrope.

“Wait! I didn’t get to do notes!” Rebel holds her hand out to Mona, looking over at Marinette and opening her mouth to do so.

Marinette cuts her off before she can get into it, “Don’t worry about it. I’m not doing that routine for competitions anyway. Go ahead, Mona!”

Mona looks between the two, before shaking her head and starting for the tightrope again.

 

Alya, Nino, and Adrien stay for all of practice, two people wearing makeup masks joining them mid-way through, and drawing questions from Alya, who’s moved closer to Cerise, for the pure reason that she’s the only one who’ll answer all her questions. 

“Alright guys! Does anyone want to work with Rey, while we start on our group exercises?” Rebel stands up after the majority of the group shows off their single performances, everyone providing constructive criticism for each other.

“I’d love to.” Jasmine grins over at the brunette girl, causing her cheeks to redden.

“Well, why don’t I work with her today? We’ve got a similar theme.” Script Writer, one of the two in a mask, speaks up, offering Rey a shy smile.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea. It’ll help you get used to the more abstract manifestations, hermana.” Rebel sneaks over to her sister and scoops her up in a hug, before turning to Marinette, “I think you ought to sit this one out, florecilla. You’ve got some people to talk to.”

Marinette crosses her arms firmly across her chest, “I told you. I don’t want to talk to them.”

“Would you rather them hunt you down without us here?” Angel raises an eyebrow at her, from where he’s helping Rapunzel tie up her hair.

Marinette looks in between the others for support, finding similar, encouraging looks from them. 

Jasmine comes over and pats her shoulder, “You know you can’t leave them hanging, Nette. They came all this way to see you.”

“Fine, but if any of them dare try to pull the, I’m jealous of Lila, card again, then I’m making one of you push them back over the enchantment line.” Marinette turns on her heel, starting for the three still sitting down.

The magic students all share a look, before shrugging and heading out to the floor.

Marinette plops down on the ground in front of her three supposed friends, glaring at each of them in turn, “How did you get past the enchantment line?”

None of them speak up for a minute, until Adrien finally breaks, clearing his throat nervously, “I-It was me. I brought them over the enchantment line.”

Marinette narrows her eyes at him, searching his aura, before finding a very weak magic signature, “And how did you know I’d be here?”

“I got Marc to tell us what school you transferred to.” Alya fiddles with her phone charm, before looking up at Marinette, “I understand why you couldn’t tell us that you knew Lila was lying now, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, or double check the facts. I’ve been a bad friend, and I should have trusted you over the new girl no matter what. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, dude. We shouldn’t have moved seats in a way that would make you feel excluded.” Nino bows his head to her.

“And I’m sorry for being passive about all of this. I know first hand that Lila’s been lying, and I did nothing to help the situation.” Adrien follows suit with Nino, earning a snort from Marinette.

“Okay, enough with the bowing. I’m still mad at you, but I accept your apologies.” Marinette’s relaxes in her spot, watching them with something close to a smile, “So how much did Rebel tell you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ribbons each represent a person, if you wanna guess who each one represents. If you're wondering what song I was listening to while planning out Marinette's performance, it's called The Edge (ft. Nevve) by Grant.   
> Another note: In case you're wondering, the redheaded boy with Rebel is Nash, who was mentioned in the first chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya and Nino join the magic group for dinner at the Huang's house.

“Hey, Nette! Wanna invite your supposed friends over to my house with us for dinner?” Rebel calls out to them, after swinging over to the balcony from their practice set up.

The group of four had been talking the entire time, mostly Alya asking Marinette all of her questions about magic, and Marinette’s new class. 

Marinette looks up from their conversation, offering Rebel a shy smile, “They’ve been updated back to regular friends again, and sure. Should we notify your parents at least?”

“I already texted them that we might have extras for dinner.” Rebel turns to call back to the others, “Illustration, Script Writer, are you two coming over for dinner this time?!”

Marinette chuckles at that, turning to Alya, Nino, and Adrien, “So, are you guys okay to come over to Rebel’s for dinner? It’s okay if you aren’t. I’ll unblock you guys from my phone so we can talk again.”

Adrien winces a little at that, giving her the softest kitten eyes Marinette’s ever seen aside from Chat Noir’s, “So does that mean you’re not coming back to school with us?”

“Oh, Adrien. No. I’m not going back to that school. I made my decision a week ago, and I’m sticking to it.” Marinette reaches over and ruffles his hair, before looking back at the others, “Besides, I’ve got such a wonderful support system here.”

“You’ve got a wonderful support system at our school too. You’ve got us, and once we disprove Lila’s lies, you’ll have the class back.” Adrien catches her hand in his, his eyes never straying from her.

“That’s not a support system, Adrien. I can’t trust people who turn on me for some new person they barely know, and if I’m being completely honest with you, I prefer Suerste in terms of education anyway. My magic’s getting stronger everyday, and my teachers adapt to my learning style and lifestyle.” Marinette squeezes his hand gently, offering him a smile, “But, I promise I won’t abandon you, just because we don’t go to the same school anymore.”

Alya leans her head on her hand, giving off a sigh, “You know our other classmates are going to freak, when they hear that you switched schools.”

“Let them. I’m tired of bending over backwards for them and getting no support in return.” Marinette rolls her eyes, smiling when Nash comes over and ruffles her hair, before heading downstairs to get changed.

“Hey, Nette? Aren’t you going to get changed? It’s kinda cold outside, and most of the others are already changed.” Rey comes over, her hands clasped together nervously. She hasn’t changed out of her practice clothes yet, having been working a little longer than the others with Script Writer.

Marinette looks up at her, then down at her practice clothes and jumps up, “Oh yeah! I totally forgot I was wearing this. If you're coming over for dinner with us, you guys can go meet up with Rebel. I’ve got to get dressed.”

With that, Marinette takes off, flipping over the balcony edge. Alya jumps up, catching herself from shouting, before following to make sure Marinette is okay, and not stuck with a broken leg or something worse. 

“Don’t worry. There’s an enchantment on the floor, to keep anyone from getting hurt.” Rey smiles softly at Alya, patting her shoulder, “It made me nervous the first time the others did that too.”

Alya drags a hand down her face, “Goodness gracious. The magic thing is going to take some getting used to.”

Rey just nods her agreement, before heading out the door.

 

\---

 

“Hey kiddos. Welcome back.” A dark skinned woman with deep purple eyes opens the door for the group, “Wanna introduce me to the new ones?”

“Hey, Maria. Yeah, these are my friends from my non-magic school, Alya and Nino. Adrien had to go home after practice, but I’ll introduce you to him sometime.” Marinette smiles up at her, waiting her turn, as Maria gives each of them a hug in greeting.

Maria looks Alya and Nino over, the smile never dropping from her face, “It’s lovely to meet you two. I assume you’ve apologized to Nette, hmm?”

Alya gulps when Maria’s eyes take on a protective glare, “Yes, madame.”

“Oh, I’d prefer it if you just call me Maria.” Maria’s gaze softens a little, and she pats Alya’s head, “Meili! Eliott! Come meet Marinette’s non-magic friends!”

Two heads pop out from the kitchen, the blonde woman with light skin and green eyes like Rebel and Angel speaking up first, “Let me finish cooking the rice, and I'll be right out.”

The olive skinned woman next to her snorts and bumps her hip, “You and your perfect rice.”

“You know you like the way I cook it, corazón.” The blonde woman leans forward and nuzzles the other’s cheek, before ducking into the kitchen again.

“Just not the way you season it!” The dark haired woman calls back with a chuckle, before heading over to the kids, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Meili.”

“Um, Alya and Nino.” Alya introduces herself, sharing a look with Nino.

Marinette snorts at that, setting a hand on her hip, “Yeah, Meili, Maria, and Eliott are married. Not a big deal, guys.”

Nino just rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, Alya nodding in response, “I mean, that would make things easier. You seem to have a lot of kids. My parents have four themselves, and Nora’s an adult, so she helps out a lot too.”

“We do have plenty of children.” Meili looks over at where the others are settling into the living room.

“We’re always open to more if they need a home though.” Maria catches Rey in a side-hug, the brunette having stuck around the group, for some reason. 

“Are Lucie and Akash here?” Marinette looks down the hallway, to where the stairs are, “I need to get a better measurement on Lucie’s hands.”

“Lucie isn’t home yet, but Akash is upstairs with Marcus right now. They said something about working on a project. I assume it’s for Lucie’s birthday too.” Meili's face lights up in a smile, turning to look at the stairs as well, “Lucie should be back soon though.”

Marinette grins and heads down the hallway, calling up the boys, “Akash! Marcus! Come meet my non-magic friends.”

Alya looks over at Nino, feeling abnormally out of place. She doesn’t usually get this feeling, but Marinette’s so familiar with these people she’s never even mentioned before, and it makes her feel left out.

Maria watches her, a soft smile falling onto her face, “Have you ever done cornrows in your hair, Alya?”

“A couple of times. I don’t like it much though. That’s more of my sister’s thing.” Alya holds her phone to her, a nervous reflex of hers.

“Maria adores doing other people's hair.” The blonde woman comes back out, smiling at the kids, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Eliott. Why don’t we move to the living room, guys? I’m sure our guests would like to sit.”

“Oh yeah! That’s a good idea, honey.” Maria squishes her in a hug, before turning to start toward the living room, Meili snickering behind her, while Eliot just shakes her head fondly.

“Come on in and make yourself comfy.”

“Alya, Nino, grab a controller. We’re playing Mario Kart.” Rebel calls out to the two, a younger boy around Manon’s age nestled into her side with a controller of his own.

“I’m going to go work on dinner, again.” Eliott presses a kiss to Maria’s head, then one to Meili’s, heading for the kitchen.

The other two wave her off, settling down next to a younger girl with pitch black hair and tan skin, who’s doing something on her tablet, both women getting a controller.

Alya blinks at the request, taking a controller and settling down on the couch with Nino, who’s following her example.

 

An hour later, the two non-magics start to feel like they fitting in a lot more, the group actively throwing out meaningless, kid-friendly insults at each other, aside from Rey, who’s been passive aggressively thanking people for throwing shells at her. Marinette introduced them to Akash and Marcus, the oldest Huang and his best friend, neither of which are even trying to win, and mostly trying to find all the hidden routes, that Angel and Rapunzel added to their hacked version of the game, and Willow and Lane, the two youngest Huang’s.

Lucie joins them a little before dinner, greeting Alya and Nino with a surprised look, before shrugging it off and plopping herself down in Rebel’s lap, Rebel too focused on trying to beat Angel to do anything more than lift her controller.

“Hey, kiddos. Time for dinner.” Eliott calls out, coming out from the dining room this time.

Rebel pauses the game, earning a groan from Cerise and Mona, who were finally neck and neck for the lead.

Maria is the first one up, seconded by Meili, “Come on guys. Let’s go set up the extra seats. Eliott? Did you resize the table?”

“Yep. I’m getting the seats from the closet now.” Eliott calls back, the kids getting up and heading into the dining room.

“Resize the table? Is that another magic thing?” Alya speaks up, her and Nino following the group into the dining room.

“No, we just have one of those tables that you can push apart and put panels in, to make it bigger.” Rebel looks over at Alya, her eyes glittering teasingly, “Not everything we do is magic related.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still in shock over the existence of magic anyway.” Alya rolls her eyes, moving to help with the chairs, like all the other kids, “Thank you very much for dinner, Madames Huang.”

“You can just call us by our first names, kiddo.” Maria reminds Alya, taking her seat in between Meili and Eliott, “And you’re welcome.”

The table already has plates set out on it, and the dishes are set up in the middle, a kind of serve yourself style that Alya only really sees at parties. The others all start getting their food, and passing dishes around the table, Alya and Nino following suit.

“So how was everyone’s day?” Meili starts the conversation, taking small bites of her food, as everyone starts talks in turn, conversations flying around the table.

It’s hard to keep up with, but it makes the inner reporter in Alya happy, everyone sharing their days, before moving into different conversations.

“Everyone has their outfits for the ball, right? Any last minute requests you need to make?” Eliott looks around at the kids, obviously already cataloging the dresses she’s done.

“We’re all good, Papi.” Rebel chuckles at her parent, adding an amount of different spices that would make anyone else cry. Most of the other Huang’s and Marcus seem to be passing around the spices in a similar way, Nino cringing next to Alya.

Marinette turns to look back at Alya and Nino, her nose scrunched up in that way it usually does when she’s thinking about something. She sets her utensils down, before offering them a nervous smile, “Um, would you guys like to come to the ball with us?”

“Nette, you know the rest of the school is going to freak out if you bring non-magics.” Angel frowns across the table from next to Rebel.

“Not really. I’ve seen a few non-magics on the out-of-school date forms that have been coming through my office.” Lucie stabs a piece of asparagus, “You’ve got three days to submit the forms though, and I’m not making any exceptions, because we’ve still got so many other things to do.”

“I’ll pick up a form tomorrow.” 

“And I’ll remind you, so you don’t forget.” Rebel points her fork at Marinette, earning a pout from the bluebell-eyed girl.

“Are you going to invite Adrien too?” Alya leans her head on her hand, thinking it through.

“I might as well. I’ve got to talk to him about what magic he is and everything, because I never picked up a signature off of him before.” Marinette purses her lips, “I wouldn’t be surprised if his father has something to do with that though.”

“Yeah. He’s not the nicest man.” Nino grips his fork tightly, “He probably wouldn’t let Adrien come, even if you invite him.”

“I’ll still talk to him. No harm in asking.” Marinette scoops up some of her rice, shrugging her shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Illustration and Script Writer did not come over for dinner. Short explanation for those two's addition is that Rebel invited them to her team, but they still didn't want to tell the others their names, so this was their compromise. There will be more of an explanation in how aerial manifestation competitions work, and exactly who these two are in a later chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nathaniel, Alix, and Marc go to Suerste to talk to Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some NathMarc because I'm gone for this ship, and I really love the Nathaniel and Alix friendship aspect they put in Reverser.

Nathaniel taps his pencil against the desk, finding no inspiration to draw this morning. Marc hasn’t gotten the new script for their comic to him yet. He kind of doesn’t like his new seat. He can’t hide behind Ivan to draw like he used to be able to.

He perks up when he sees Alix finally come in, fully prepared to ask her for a drawing prompt, before noticing how upset she looks. 

He frowns and puts down his pencil, “Hey, Alix. What’s up?”

“Marinette switched schools, and she’s not coming back.” Alix plops down in here seat, her voice completely dejected, “Marinette’s been our friend for years, and she just up and left us.”

Oh, that. Nathaniel closes his sketchbook, trying to decide how to continue this conversation, “Well, with the way everyone’s been treating her over Lila, I’m not all that surprised.”

“She was being unfair to Lila, which is so not like her. She doesn’t have to be so angry with her, just because they both have a thing for Adrien.” Alix crosses her arms, glaring at her bag on her desk, “She didn’t have to switch schools because of it either.”

“What? Adrien? I thought she was upset because Lila’s been lying.”

“She was just saying that, because she’s jealous. What reason would Lila have to be lying? She’s been nothing but nice to us.” Alix begrudgingly gets out her tablet for class.

Nathaniel twists the ring on his finger, his nose scrunching up, “You’re right, I don’t see much reason why she’d lie to us, but she has been lying to us since day one.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Alix turns to him, an eyebrow raised, “What do you mean she’s been lying to us since day one? How can you tell?”

“Come on, Alix. You’re a stronger magic than this. Can you really look at her when she says she’s got tinnitus, and tell me that she doesn’t reek of deceit?” Nathaniel mirrors her expression, looking at her pointedly.

Alix frowns at that, turning to look for the Italian girl, “Hey, Lila! What’s that ear issue you have again?”

Lila looks up from her tablet, smiling back at Alix, “Tinnitus. It’s a constant ringing in my left ear, that I got from saving Jagged Stone’s kitten.”

“Thank you, Lila.” Alix watches her closely, before turning back to Nathaniel, and whispering, “I felt no deceit in that.”

“Were you focusing on her words, or her aura?” Nathaniel leans his head on his hand.

Alix opens her mouth, before closing it again, then groaning, “Ugg, her words. I’m not used to searching non-magics for their auras. I don’t like reading them anyway.”

“Well, Marinette does, and you and I both know how much she hates being lied to. I’m pretty sure that’s her issue with Lila.” Nathaniel shrugs and reaches into his bag to get his tablet.

“How come you didn’t tell me before? We could have stopped Lila before Marinette switched schools.” 

“I didn’t think it mattered that much. Neither you or Max picked up on it, and she didn’t seem to be hurting anyone at the time. It is getting a little out of hand, but it’s not like the others will believe us if we tell them.”

“Come on. Aren’t you at least a little upset that Marinette left us?”

“No. She did what she thought was best.” Nathaniel powers on his tablet, “I always thought she’d be the first of us to transfer anyway. She manifests a lot stronger than we do.”

“Still. She didn’t take the offer on her birthday, and she didn’t tell us she was transfering. She didn’t even give any indication that she was thinking about it.” Alix glares at the table, pulling her tough face, although Nathaniel knows if he looks for it, he’ll see her eyes starting to water.

“Alix, if you’re so upset about her leaving, then why don’t you go confront her about it?” Nathaniel leans his chin on his palm, watching the pink haired girl.

“I’m not upset.” Alix crosses her arms and looks away, “Anyway, Marinette blocked my number.”

“Well, that’s a little drastic. I wonder if she blocked mine.” Nathaniel pulls out his phone, attempting to text Marinette. He hums when he gets a message back saying that Marinette’s number has blocked him, “Huh. Well, we can head to Suerste after school, or during lunch maybe? Though she may not want to see us.”

“I don’t want to see her either. She can’t just leave us.” Alix looks up when Prof. Bustier comes in and starts class.

“Don’t be dramatic. I’ll text Cerise and tell her we’re coming over for lunch again.” Nathaniel starts a text, sending it before Prof. Bustier scolds him for having his phone out

 

\---

 

Nathaniel presses a hand to his cheeks, feeling the heat come off of them, while Alix laughs next to him, over class break, “Don’t laugh at that! It’s not my fault Cerise misread our relationship!”

“Well that’s what you want him to be.” Alix straightens up, smirking at him, “So are you going to invite your boyfriend to lunch with us?”

“Alix!” Nathaniel reaches over and covers her mouth, looking down the hall worriedly, “He could hear you!”

“Please let him. You two kill me with your pining.” Alix licks his hand, causing him to squeak and jump back from her, “In all seriousness though, are we inviting Marc?”

Nathaniel wipes his hand on his jeans, his cheeks coloring, “Yeah. He’s still on good terms with Marinette, so maybe she won’t be too mad at us.”

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go.”

-

“Wait, so Cerise is your cousin?” Marc holds his notebook to him as they walk, tapping on the cover absentmindedly, “How? You two act nothing alike.”

“Cerise is my uncle’s kid. I have no clue why she is the way she is. I blame Rebel and Angel.” Nathaniel shrugs his shoulders, watching Marc with a soft smile, “Anyway, how do you know Cerise?”

“I’m friends with Rey. We use the same dance studio at the school, and I was excited to meet another writer.” Marc fiddles with his gloves, “She sorta introduced me to everyone from there.”

Nathaniel scrunches his nose at that, “So why did she want me to bring you to meet her, if she’s already met you?”

Marc just shrugs his shoulders, Alix snorting next to him, “To be fair, Marc is a common name.”

“But she’s seen my dr-” Nathaniel cuts himself off, his face getting three times redder.

Alix smirks up at him, setting her hands in her pockets, “Well, then either she’s planning something, or she knows Mari will be less upset to see us with Marc.”

Marc chews on his lip, his own cheeks dusted pink, “So you just invited me out as a buffer?”

“No! Of course not! I love to spend time with you. Err, we love to spend time with you!” Nathaniel rubs his shoulder awkwardly, his face a new shade of red, that Marc would love to document.

“Thanks, Nathaniel. I was mostly joking though.” Marc giggles, holding eye contact with his teal-eyed friend.

Nathaniel’s lips turn down in a pout, opening his mouth to say something, before Alix speaks up, “Hey, is that Adrien?” 

The boys look in the direction she points, both blinking curiously. Nathaniel moves his hand back to the strap of his bag, “Huh, yeah it is. I wonder what he’s doing so far from the school.”

“Well, we’re almost at the enchantment line, and I don’t want to be late, so I’m not going to be the one to tell him he's lost this time.” Alix turns on Rue Nuit, the boys following suit.

Nathaniel keeps an eye on him just in case, knowing that Adrien has a bad tendency to get lost at the worst times. His eyes widen when Adrien reaches the enchantment line first, easily passing over it.

“Alix, did you just see that?”

“Yeah, I did. I wonder if he’s doing the same thing we are.” Alix pulls the boys with her, moving quickly, “Let’s see if we can catch him at the trolley.”

“Um, maybe he wants to be left alone?” Marc squeaks, when Alix grabs a hold of his arm.

“Either way, we all have to take the trolley, so we can’t avoid him, if he’s going to Suerste.” Nathaniel chuckles at Marc’s reaction, reaching over and helping him out of Alix’s grip, “Alix, the trolley won’t be here for another five minutes; we don’t have to run.”

“I want to talk to Adrien. He never told us he’s got magic.” 

“He probably doesn’t know we do either.” Marc gives Nathaniel a grateful look, until realizing that he’s still holding his hand, a bright blush spreading to his cheeks.

Nathaniel quickly drops his hand, when he notices, neither catching it when Alix rolls her eyes, the group getting to the trolley stop.

Adrien doesn’t look up from his phone, his hair hidden under a beanie, and he’s wearing a borrowed jacket.

“Hey, Adrien.” Alix taps his shoulder, enjoying the look of pure terror on his face as he looks up, “It’s just us, man. Are you going to see Marinette too?”

Adrien just stares at the group, his pupils blown wide, “You- um. How... did you get across the...”

“Enchantment line?” Alix cocks an eyebrow, a smirk developing on her face, “Same as you; we just walked over. Didn’t know you were a magic, by the way.”

“Likewise.” Adrien finally seems to relax after a second, putting away his phone, “You said something about visiting Marinette? I don’t think she’s going to want to see you.”

“Ehh, she’ll get over it. She doesn’t get to up and leave without telling us, and not get an earful about it.” Alix shrugs her shoulders, hands never leaving her pockets, “Besides, Cerise begged us to bring Marc with us, so now we have a buffer.”

“I’m listing that on my resumé, professional buffer.” Marc’s lips curve up into a smile, unaware of the redhead melting next to him.

“You guys know Cerise?”

Nathaniel nods his head, pulling himself together, “She’s my cousin.”

“How?” Adrien gives him a skeptical once over.

Nathaniel laughs at that, “I’ve been asking myself that for years now.”

 

Marinette raises an eyebrow, when Alix, Nathaniel, and Marc show up to lunch. She glares at Adrien, looking at the three pointedly.

“I didn’t bring them. They just showed up at the trolley stop.” Adrien holds his hands up in defense, sliding into the seat next to her.

“I invited them! I haven’t been able to fill out Marc’s questionnaire yet.” Cerise jumps up and grabs Marc’s arm, dragging him over to the table, where Mona’s already shaking her head.

“Cerise, really? You know you can just ask him.” Nathaniel grumbles, taking the available seat next to Marc, Alix following suit.

“I should’ve known something was up when you cleared extra seats.” Marinette rolls her eyes, thanking Lillian and Chris when they bring a dish to their table.

Adrien stares at the food, pulling his kitten eyes again, “Mari, they made lunch for us?”

“Yes, you dork. That’s how lunch works here.” Marinette reaches for the dish and fills up her plate, passing it to Adrien, “Here, pass it down when you get what you want.”

“You can tell her to stop, if you want to, Marc.” Rey smiles over at the overwhelmed boy, “She gets a little overzealous about her questions.”

Marc just looks at the sheet of paper Cerise shoved in his hands, looking lost.

“Here, let me see the paper.” Marc hands it to Nathaniel, who manifests a pen and scribbles something on it, then hands it to Cerise, glaring at her pointedly, “No interrogating people at lunch.”

Cerise takes the paper and reads it, a smirk crawling up her lips, “Come on, Naty. I just wanna ask the boy questions.”

“I told you not to call me that. You can talk to him after lunch.” Nathaniel scrunches his nose, getting his food.

“Naty?” Marc looks over at Nathaniel teasingly, thanking him when he passes the dish.

“Please don’t. I hate that nickname.” Nathaniel picks up his fork and stabs his zucchini.

“Marinette.” Alix looks over at the pigtailed girl, frowning when she receives a wary glance from her, “Why did you leave François Dupont without telling us anything?”

That silences the entire table, Marinette putting down her fork, “I prefer to be somewhere where I’m wanted and appreciated, and not isolated from everyone because some new girl claims fake injury.”

Alix winces, setting down her own utensil, “Okay, point. It was really unfair of us to change seats on you, but you didn’t even tell us you were leaving. You could have at least told Nathaniel, Max, and I you were transferring.”

“I told my friends I was leaving.” Marinette leans her head on her hand, her eyes narrowed at Alix.

“Really, Nette? Are you actually saying that we aren’t friends anymore, because we didn’t realise Lila was lying?” Alix crosses her arms, her lips curling up in annoyance.

“It’s not only that. Everyone in that class sided with her, even if everyone’s known me longer.” Marinette pulls on one of her pigtails, before looking away from Alix, “And you didn’t stand up for me. No one stood up for me. No one followed me when I ran out of the cafeteria crying. No one noticed that they put me in the back of the classroom alone. No one cared. Friends are supposed to care about you; so yeah, we aren’t friends anymore, and it’s going to take a while for me to trust you guys again, if you even bother trying a second time.”

Alix opens her mouth to speak, then closes it, settling back into her seat and staring at her food. It’s a minute before she speaks again, “I’m sorry, Marinette. I didn’t realise we did that to you.”

“Yeah, well you did, and I’m not taking it lightly, and I’m not apologizing this time. If you want my friendship back, then you’re going to have to earn it, because I’m done with people that say they’re my friends, then turn on me for some new person.” Marinette picks up her fork and takes a bite of her food, the rest of the table eating in silence for a long moment.

“So, are you coming to the Heart’s Ball, cousin?” Cerise breaks the quiet, looking over at Nathaniel.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien comes to Suerste to help cook lunch with Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has definitely wandered into reverse love square territory.

Marinette chuckles at the scene she walks in on for their first general studies class this morning; Rebel is lounging out across his and Angel’s desk, lazily batting at some string Nash is waving in his face, while Elijah sits on his desk with an apple on his head, Harrison manifesting a practice dagger and trying to hit it, Laily and Mona are both staring intensely at some plant Cerise put down on their desk, Cerise holding back laughter, as she watches them, Milas and Daniel seem to be doing something with a map in the back, Rapunzel is happily snapping pictures of Jasmine and Rey cuddled up together, asleep, and to top it all off, a loud whirring noise is coming from the machine on Lillian’s desk, while he and Chris try desperately to stop it. Caroline is clearly not in class yet.

Marinette heads up to her seat next to Nash, “Where’s Caroline?”

“She’s sick, so we made her stay home.” Rebel waves at her, before Nash moves the string again, and he makes a lazy swipe at it, “She was so upset that she got sick on Lucie’s birthday, but I think they just postponed their plans or something.”

“That’s no fun. I hope she starts feeling better.” Marinette gets out her tablet from her bag, “Do you think she’ll be up and around by tomorrow? I don’t want her to miss out on Lucie’s birthday party.”

“She should be. I think it’s just a twenty-four hour bug.” Angel leans back in his seat, offering her a smile, “Is your Adrien friend able to come to the ball?”

“He said he’d have to sneak out to do so, so I told him not to worry about it. His dad is really restrictive.” Marinette taps her stylus against the desk.

“Well, his dad’s going to have a hell of a time keeping him under lock and key, if you keep bringing him around.” Rebel snorts, managing to snag the string with a proud hum.

“Is he coming to lunch with us again?” Nash watches Rebel with a fond smile, not moving to get his string back.

“Yeah. He really likes our lunch set up, and I think it makes him feel a little less lonely.” Marinette waggles her eyebrows at Nash, earning a tongue stuck out in her direction.

Rebel smirks at his best friend’s reaction, sitting up and leaning forward to kiss Nash’s cheek, “Cute. Anyway, Nette, I think it’s a great idea to keep bringing Adrien over. Especially if his father is a restrictive cabrón.”

Nash’s face burns red, the blue-eyed boy sinking to the desk with a goofy smile. 

Marinette leans her head on her hand, humming to herself, “Hmm, you’re right. We could slowly start testing to see what magic he is too. He doesn’t know. According to him, he accidentally stumbled over the enchantment line one day when he was sneaking out, and a random magic explained everything to him, but couldn’t figure out what magic he is.”

“Sounds false. Were you checking his aura?” Rebel leans back on his desk, tilting his head at Marinette.

“Yeah. He definitely wasn’t telling the truth, but there was an undertone of anxiety, so I’m not going to point it out. He’ll tell me when he’s ready, or he won’t. Either way, I trust him enough not to pry.” Marinette turns on her tablet, the group greeting Prof. Klacine, when she comes in, and Rebel settles into his seat properly.

“How can you trust him, when he wasn’t there for you with the Lila thing?” Angel leans back and whispers at her.

“Honestly, he was trying to be there for me, but he’s just super passive about everything. He’s been raised to follow orders, and he wasn’t there when I ran off at lunch. Not enough reason for me to be upset with him. I just know not to look to him to lean on now.” Marinette flips through her tablet, before looking in front of her, to Angel, “He’s still one of my friends, and he’s got a rough home life; so, I’m not going to question it, if he doesn’t want to tell me how he learned about having magic.”

“Dios. Can I torture his dad?” Rebel leans his head against their desk.

“No.” Nash bops his nose, his face heating up, when Rebel holds his hand in place to kiss his palm, “Oh my god. Pay attention to Prof. Klacine, you dork.”

“Mmm, sure, mi tesorito.” Rebel turns his attention back to the front with a grin, completely aware of Nash covering his face with his hands.

 

\---

 

“Hi, Marinette!” Adrien skips up to the hall, where he’s meeting up with her, his aura positively glowing with happiness.

Marinette smiles at that, reaching out to ruffle his hair, a habit she’s been picking up from Rebel, “Hey, sunshine. You ready to cook lunch with me? We’re making vegan stir-fry, and a non-vegan stir-fry with Rey today.”

“Yes! I’ve never actually cooked a meal before.” Adrien follows her down the hall, to the class’s lunch pod.

“Well, we’re going to teach you how to make stir-fry today. Rey should already have all the ingredients on the counter, so we don’t need to venture into the pantry this time, and we’re in luck, because the nature magics just did their harvesting this morning, _and_ we got a truck from the farmers out of town.” Marinette holds the door open for him, rolling her eyes at the conversation filtering in from the kitchen.

“-and how do I react to that! I mean I agreed to it, but did she mean it as a date? And how am I supposed to act if she did? How do dates even work? Anyway, I’m too young to date! Even if I’d love to get more cuddles from her, I’d probably explode if she tried to kiss me. Cerise, why are you laughing?! This is serious!” Rey is slumped against the counter, running his hands through his hair worriedly, while Cerise is doubled over with laughter and Mona’s just watching the two with a mild amusement.

“I don’t think Jas intended to ask you to be her boyfriend, Rey, and even if she did, you can just tell her how you feel about everything, and she’ll be fine with it.” Marinette heads over, Adrien following her and staring at Rey with confusion written across his aura, “If you want to know, then just ask her.”

“That’s normal? I can just ask her? But what if she gets offended by me asking her for clarification, or doesn’t want anything to do with me, because I’m not certain about the dating thing?” Rey looks up at Marinette, hope and anxiety having a battle in his eyes.

“That’s not going to happen, Rey.” Mona reaches over and pats his head, “We all know Jasmine better than that.”

“And if it did, we’d kick her ass.” Marinette pipes in, moving to get out the dishes they need.

“Ooh, Nette’s cussing like a big girl now.” Cerise’s lips quirk up in a smirk, leaning on the counter with her chin in her hand.

“I spend too much time with you.” Marinette sticks her tongue out at the amber-eyed girl, “Adrien, do you want to get started by chopping up the broccoli?”

“Um, sure?” Adrien picks up the broccoli from the counter, before looking for a knife.

“Knife and cutting board. Nette said you’ve never cooked before,” Rey comes over with the cutting board, a knife labelled safety settled on it, “So I gave you the safety knife. It’s enchanted to not cut your fingers.”

“Thank you, Rey.” Marinette calls back to him, already setting the rice cooker.

“Thank you. Um, can I ask a question?” Adrien takes the items from him, a shy look in his eyes.

“Of course. You can always ask me anything.” Rey smiles at him, turning to the cutting board and veggies he’s already halfway through.

“Oh, well, did your gender change since the last time I saw you?” Adrien picks up the broccoli, lightly setting it on his cutting board.

“Yep! Rebel and I both switched yesterday. I’m not quite sure the logistics on that, because Eliott tells me that it’s not synced up or anything, but sometimes that’ll happen. Anyway, I’m male today.” Rey beams at Adrien, happily chopping up his veggies.

“That’s cool. If you don’t mind me asking, how does that work?” 

“I’m not actually too sure. This is only like the second or third time I’ve switched, and it’s a little weird to get used to, but it feels absolutely wonderful. I never have moments where I really want to get rid of certain body parts anymore, because my body just kinda does it for me. The best explanation I can give is that it’s a general magic. Gender is a choice here, and I love it.” 

“I want to throttle your father for suppressing you and your magic.” Mona taps her fingers against the table, Cerise nodding her agreement.

“He was just doing what he thought was best for me.” Rey shrugs, the smile slipping from his face.

“He was doing what he thought was best for him. He chose to be a non-magic, and he didn’t even give you an option.” Cerise sits up in her spot, staring Rey down.

“Let’s not get into that right now.” Mona winces, sitting up and pulling one of the cabbages over to her and dismantling it, “Let’s go back to talking about the ball. Rey’s already got a date it looks like. Adrien, are you coming to the ball?”

Adrien looks up from his very messily cut broccoli, his eyesight flicking to Marinette, who’s working on cooking meat for the not vegan stir-fry, and brussel sprouts in another pot it looks like, “I really want to, but my dad said no, so I’d have to sneak out to go, and Marinette seems to not want me to sneak out.”

“I did not say anything about not wanting you to sneak out. I’m just worried your father will freak out. Do you remember last Christmas?” Marinette raises an eyebrow at him.

“That was different. I didn’t exactly have a plan then; I was just upset.” Adrien rubs the back of his neck.

“Hey, go wash your hands before touching the food again.” Rey looks over at Adrien, “We have no clue how clean or dirty your neck is.”

Adrien sets his knife down and follows his instructions, Cerise calling over to him, “For the record, I totally think you should sneak out. School ball’s are always a lot of fun, and you’d get to dance with everyone. I’m sure Eliott can even make you an outfit, if you ask them.”

“Eliott is Mona’s father, right?” Adrien scrunches his nose in thought, blinking in surprise when he sees that Marinette has already stolen his cutting board, and is adding it to a wok, with some other veggies.

“One of mine and Rey’s parents, yes. Maria and Meili are our other parents.” Mona gets up with her cabbage and cleans it off in the sink, before getting out a knife and chopping it up next to Rey.

“Sorry. Still trying to get everyone’s parents and names down. You guys talk about your families a lot more than my class does. Isn’t today one of your sister’s birthdays too?” Adrien thanks Rey, when he hands him another vegetable to chop.

“Yeah. It’s Lucie’s birthday today. Her party is tomorrow, at Daniel’s fathers’ karaoke place.” Rey takes the last of the veggies over to Marinette.

“Have I met Lucie yet?”

“No. She’s the level above ours.” Marinette calls back to him, the sound of frying really hitting Adrien’s ears now, “She’s the student council coordinator, so she’s really busy right now. You probably won’t meet her for a little while.”

“I want to meet her sometime. Everyone talks so highly of her.” Adrien finishes up his, poorly cut vegetables, bringing them to Marinette, who smiles, then starts showing him how to help cook the stir fry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Switch is just a physical representation of genderfluid. I did not realize the other meaning of being a switch, until I'd already started using it as a third gender, and it's too late to go back now. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading this!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabine is best mother. Also, Adrien develops magic.

Adrien didn’t plan to mess up the whole photo shoot, it was just an accident. His photographer told him that it wasn’t his fault, the camera suddenly started acting as if it’d been possessed, but Adrien knows it was. He was just wondering what the fuzzy outline around the camera was. It only started messing up when he poked it, turning the outline a different color, similar to the black bubbles of his cataclysm. 

He steps back from the photoshoot, not trusting himself to touch anything else important. It gets worse when he notices the outlines on almost everything else. He holds his hands to his chest, his eyes growing big, as he steps away, searching for Plagg. He finds the kwami nestled on top of his package of cheese, asleep.

“Plagg. Plagg, wake up.” Adrien gently shakes the cheese container, earning a sleepy grumble from the cat themed creature on top of it.

“Is it time to leave?” Plagg brings a little paw up to rub his face.

“No. I did something to the camera, and now everything is covered in these shimmery colors. I just touched the outline, and the camera malfunctioned completely.” Adrien tugs at his hair, worriedly looking out at the photo shoot setup.

“Oh, nothing important then. Your magic is just picking up, finally. Can I go back to sleep now?” Plagg yawns and stretches out, floating up to Adrien’s shoulder.

“No, Plagg. This is really important. How do I not mess up the colors? What do you mean by finally? Is this what magic looks like?” Adrien turns to look at Plagg, his eyes getting wider, when he finds that the kwami himself is glowing with something that feels like a shadow, “Woah, Plagg, you’re shimmering too.”

“Of course I am. I’m pretty much all magic.” Plagg snorts, tucking into the pocket on Adrien’s shirt, “And I’m sure your girlfriend could explain the rest to you.”

Adrien turns a deep shade of red and covers his face, “Marinette is not my girlfriend, but you do have a point. Let’s go.”

Adrien picks up the container of cheese and tucks it into his pocket, before explaining to his photographer that he’s got something else to do, since the camera isn’t working, and taking off for Marinette’s house.

\---

“Marinette isn’t home.” Sabine smiles gently at Adrien, packing a box for a customer, “She should be at Suerste, practicing for competitions. Is it something important?”

“Very. Thank you Mme. Cheng.” Adrien starts for the door, stopping in his tracks, when Sabine speaks again.

“Not so fast, young man. What do you need to talk to my daughter about?” Sabine hands the box to the amused orange-eyed customer, while turning to study Adrien.

Adrien sucks in a breath, waiting until the customer leaves, “I, well, um, I need help with something…”

“What do you need help with?” Sabine isn’t usually this inquisitive with him when he comes in, but then again, things have changed quite a bit in the past few weeks.

“Magic.” Adrien turns and looks at Sabine, his eyes carrying all the worry he feels about saying this to an adult, “I, I think mine’s getting stronger? I accidentally messed up the camera at my photo shoot, and everything’s shimmering now.”

Sabine takes off her gloves, humming lightly to herself, “Hmm, well that would be an issue. Do you know what magic you are?”

“I don’t, at least not fully. Marinette said I might be an altering magic, since I’ve got a knack for physics, and I like knowing how objects work, but nothing has been confirmed.” Adrien rubs the back of his neck, slowly moving closer to Sabine.

“First guess is usually right, so you’re very likely an altering magic. Follow me, and we can confirm for you, though.” Sabine tosses her gloves, before heading up the stairs. She shouts back to her husband in the back of the kitchen, “Tom, could you watch the counter for me?”

“Of course, dear.” Tom calls back, waving when he sees Adrien.

Adrien follows Sabine up to the living area of their house, sitting on the couch when instructed. Sabine gets out a set of baoding balls, then sets it on the table. She taps each ball, causing them to shimmer with a kind of silver that human eyes normally can’t pick up.

“Can you tell me what you see, Adrien?” Sabine settles down on the other section of the couch, watching Adrien carefully.

“Two baoding balls, they’re both shimmering with a silvery, but not silver color. I can’t describe it.” Adrien stares at them, before looking to Sabine for confirmation.

“That’s alright. What you’re looking at is just the magic on the baoding balls. I usually enchant them for meditation.” She reaches over and taps one of them, changing the outline color to a soft blue, “Do you see a change in color?”

“Yes, that one’s a light blue.” Adrien clasps his hands together, Sabine continuing to tap each one, changing the colors around them, while asking Adrien to tell her each color.

“Okay, final test. Try to do the same thing I did.” Sabine moves away from them, watching as Adrien nervously tries to change the outline from red, to a blue color, really focusing on making it blue. It takes a moment, but he gets it to change, a bright smile lighting up his face.

“I did it!”

Sabine chuckles at that, patting his shoulder gently, “Yes, you did. That means you’re either an altering magic, or a creative magic, but if you messed up a camera on accident, then you’re most definitely altering.”

“How do I keep from messing things up? I just tapped on the outline, and it malfunctioned.” Adrien frowns at the baoding balls, which earns an amused smile from Sabine.

“You’ve got to learn how to control it. My mother had me follow her around her kitchen for a full day, when my magic started developing. She had me changing the soups to different kinds and back, until I got a hold of it. Would you like to come downstairs and work with Tom and I? I can start teaching you today, so you don’t accidentally enchant anything, but it’s going to take some time for you to fully learn how to use your magic. I’d recommend talking to your father about taking classes at Suerste, at least on weekends. That’s what we had Marinette doing, when she was still going to François Dupont.” Sabine changes the baoding balls’ outlines back to silver, before closing the box and standing to put them away.

“I don’t know how he’ll take that, but I can try to ask him.” Adrien stands with her, running a hand through his hair.

“I can come with you, if you like. Has your father ever talked to you about magic before?” Sabine sets the box back on the bookshelf, before starting for the stairs.

“No, but he doesn’t talk to me about a lot of things nowadays.”

“Then this may be a bit of a surprise for him as well. Can you please tell your father where you are? Tom and I will walk you home, after we do a couple of lessons, to ease your magic.” Sabine walks down the the kitchen, making Tom aware of what’s going on, while she has Adrien call his father.

\---

Sabine and Tom look a little out of place walking up to Adrien’s house, but he feels a little better talking to his father, with them backing him up. Nathalie greets them at the door, opening it for the group. Adrien blinks when he hears Sabine cover a snort of amusement, at Gabriel standing at the top of his staircase. Tom just looks a bit intimidated.

“M. and Mme. Dupain-Cheng, what is it you wanted to discuss with me?” Gabriel has his hands clasped behind his back, watching the three with an impassive expression. 

Sabine just rolls her eyes and walks up the stairs to be at a more even level with him, Tom’s eyes widening, as he briskly follows his wife. Sabine stops in front of Gabriel, offering him a smile, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur Agreste. We need to discuss Adrien’s magic with you and him. It seems as if he’s a little late manifesting, and uncertain of how to control his magic. Do you know what magic is?”

Gabriel takes a step back, his aura sparking with surprise, “I, yes. I am not a magic myself, but Emilie informed me about it. I didn’t think Adrien could manifest. We tested him.”

“Most tests don’t work, until they’ve already started manifesting, or have been in constant contact with other magics. Either way, he is an altered magic, and I did work with him a little bit today, but he needs more than just a day’s worth of lessons, in order to fully gain control of his magic. Our daughter is a creative magic, and goes to Suerste, they offer weekend classes for students wishing to stay in their non-magic schools. I can give you the school’s information, to help you guys get started.” Sabine’s already got a notebook of information out, more than amused by how overwhelmed Gabriel seems to be by this, despite his face remaining stoic.

“I would appreciate that. Thank you. Nathalie, can we get started on enrolling Adrien as soon as possible?” Gabriel calls down to his assistant, Nathalie already coming up to get the information. He turns to look at Adrien, “Adrien, you may go to your room.”

“No. Adrien needs to be here to talk about his magic with you. Altered magic is one of the trickiest magics to work with, and Adrien is going to need support in learning how to control it. I think it would be a wonderful idea for the two of you to take a class together, so that both of you can learn how Adrien’s magic works.” Sabine clasps her hands together, looking between the two, with a smile that borders on dangerous.

“Thank you for the advice, Mme. Dupain-Cheng, but I think I can handle it from here.” Gabriel clasps his hands together again, “Nathalie, would you see them to the door?”

“You misunderstand, M. Agreste. As an altered magic myself, you need to know how Adrien’s magic works, and the best way to do that, is to take a class with him yourself. Teenage years are hard enough on children, and altered magics are notorious for being the most likely to rebel.” Sabine raises an eyebrow at the determination, and slight bit of fear, set in Gabriel’s aura, “That being said, you and Adrien are more than welcome to come over, anytime either of you feel like it. Here is my number in case you ever have questions.”

Gabriel just nods, handing the information to Nathalie, “I will keep that in mind. Thank you. Nathalie will show you out.”

“I think we remember the way.” Sabine takes her husband’s arms, before turning to Adrien, “Come over any time, Adrien. Our door is always open.”

With that, Sabine takes off down the steps, getting past the security gate, without Nathalie opening it for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, been a little down on ideas this week. Sabine is seriously such a BAMF, and I'd love to see her interact with Gabriel in canon.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ball, and lots of indulgent shipping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this right before I go to bed, so I apologize for any grammar errors I may have missed.

Nathaniel fixes his hair for the third time so far. It’s just not staying up, like he wants it to. He really wants to look nice for Marc, even though he isn’t exactly his date. He decided to forgo the tie his mom put in with his outfit, and he’s glad he did; he thinks he looks a lot nicer without it.

He pouts at himself in the mirror, wondering if he should try to enchant it instead. 

“Stop worrying, you look fine.” Alix snorts from the doorway, looking nice in a pair of slacks and a button up, with a casual suit jacket, “It’s not going to stay up for long anyway,  
with all the dancing we’ll be doing.”

“I just want to look nice when he gets here.” Nathaniel chews on his lip, “Should I put it up?”

“You’ll look too much like Nash then.” Alix leans against the doorway, waving when Nathaniel’s older brother passes by, also getting ready for the ball.

“I don’t know why people think that. His hair is so much lighter, and we don’t even have the same facial structure.” Nathaniel grumbles, brushing his hair back again.

“People are dumb.”

Nathaniel jumps when the doorbell rings, immediately darting out of the bathroom, “I’ve got it!”

Nathaniel’s father chuckles from the living room, where he was getting up to answer it. 

Nathaniel opens the door, his heart skipping a beat, when he sees Marc in his formal wear, looking absolutely gorgeous in a black tiered dress with a red suit jacket over it, his normal choker set in its place. 

Marc looks nervous, his hands clasped together, still in their normal finger less gloves, and he’s wearing a little bit more makeup than normal.

Nathaniel doesn’t realize he’s been staring, until his father shouts for him to invite the poor boy in already, “Eep! Sorry. You just look so nice.”

Marc blushes at that, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear, “Thanks. Um, my dad wants pictures, if that’s okay?”

“I want pictures too!” Nathaniel’s mom calls from the kitchen, Nathaniel’s face turning red.

Alix wanders into the room, hands tucked in her pockets, “Yeah, we’re ready now, if you want to go do that.”

 

\---

 

Marinette just now got the chance to get ready, Nash helping her with her makeup in the changing rooms. They were roped into helping Lucie and the student council get the ballroom ready.

Rebel’s spinning around in her dress next to them right now, Marinette having to force herself not to roll her eyes at the girl. She’s almost convinced Rebel switched today, just to wear that dress to the ball, a long green two piece dress, that shows off her stomach. Rebel really loves to show off her stomach.

Nash’s lips turn up in a smirk, when he notices Marinette watching Rebel, “Yeah, she’s pretty distracting, isn’t she?”

“I could never wear something that shows my stomach.” Marinette sighs, leaning back when Nash finally finishes her eyes, “I’m so jealous.”

“I hear you two talking about me.” Rebel smirks back at them, her eyes glittering, “Please continue.”

Nash laughs at that, patting the chair, when Marinette vacates it, “Come here, and let me do your makeup.”

Rebel grins at that, skipping over to sit in the chair, “Hey, Nette, when are your non-magic friends going to get here?”

“They should be here soon. Cerise and Mona offered to bring them over the enchantment line for me. I really think Cerise just wanted to talk to Alya some more.” Marinette looks over at where Rey and Jasmine are settled down on the floor, Jasmine putting Rey’s hair up in some elaborate style.

“Probably. Those two get along way too well.” Nash smiles as he gets to work on Rebel’s make up.

“I know. It’s a little scary actually. I’m worried one of these days, Alya’s going to come up to me with a deep personality questionnaire, and I’m going to have to kick Cerise’s ass.” Marinette chuckles at the way the two are looking at each other, “Anyway, I’m going to go ahead and wait outside for them. See you guys on the dance floor.”

“Sounds good, florecilla.” Rebel calls back, sticking out her tongue at Nash, when he scolds her for moving.

\---

Adrien had a lot easier of a time sneaking out of his house than he usually does. He figured out, over the past few days, what colors to alter the security settings to, to get them to open, without alerting anyone that they were opened. He really likes his magic, and he’s more than excited to learn what else he can do with it. 

He’s not as happy with his outfit, having to go with something a little less fancy than he wanted to. At least he won’t be so easily recognized though. 

He gets over the enchantment line, positively glowing with excitement, when he sees Alya and Nino already waiting at the trolley stop with Mona and Cerise. 

“Hi guys!” Adrien waves at his friends, smiling brightly when Nino gives him a hug.

“Dude! You made it! Did you have to sneak out?” Nino lets go of his friend, Adrien noting with great amusement, that he’s still wearing his cap.

“Yeah, but I don’t think anyone will notice this time.” Adrien beams proudly, before scrunching his nose, when Cerise ruffles his hair, “Hey! I spent a lot of time on that!”

Cerise rolls her eyes, setting a hand on her hip, in a black and orange-red dress for the ball, “You finally look like a magic. Have you started manifesting already?”

Adrien nods enthusiastically, fixing his hair again, “Yes! It freaked me out at first, but Mme. Cheng was able to help me out a little bit, and I’m doing weekend classes starting in two weeks.”

“That’s awesome!” Nino walks back over to Mona and Alya with him, Cerise stalling, when she sees someone come over the enchantment line. Nino sets a hand on Adrien’s shoulder, “So do you know what magic you are now?”

“I’m an altered magic. Mme. Cheng says she is one too, and that we can alter objects, changing them into things we’ve seen before, or know how they work, and that we can study how things work, and alter specific points in them, to make them work a different way, which is how I snuck out of the house tonight.” Adrien looks extremely proud of himself, Alya grinning at that, as she leans against the pole holding up the awning of the trolley stop.

“Oh, don’t you three look pretty.” Cerise grins at Nathaniel, Marc, and Alix, causing the other four to turn their heads.

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” Alya straightens up again, blinking in surprise.

“Naty here is my cousin.” Cerise messes up his hair, pulling a squeak from the shorter boy.

“Cerise! Come on! I don’t have a comb with me!” 

Alix pulls a comb from her pocket, handing it over to Nathaniel, “The better question is, what are you two doing here? Did Marinette explain everything to you?”

Nathaniel combs his hair grumpily, Marc looking over at him, with a soft expression.

“Um, yeah? So are you all magics?” Alya’s eyesight flickers over to where the trolley is headed their way, the group crowding towards the stop.

“Yeah, and before you ask, Max is the only other magic that I know of in our class. I assume you already know about Adrien. You’re a late bloomer, man.” Alix looks him over, an eyebrow raised, “I would have never guessed you had any kind of magic lineage.”

“Yeah. My mom was a magic, and my dad thought I didn’t inherit it.” Adrien rubs the back of his neck, the group loading into the trolley, when it stops.

\---

“Adrien! You made it!” Marinette engulfs him in a hug, after giving Alya and Nino a hug each. She pulls away after a second, raising an eyebrow at his outfit, “I can definitely tell you snuck out, but hey, at least you’re not the only in casual wear.”

Adrien rubs the back of his neck, his cheeks turning pink, “Yeah. This is what I had in my closet. My dad keeps the nicer outfits away from me.”

“I bet. You don't look bad though.” Marinette pats his shoulder, before turning to where Rey has already scooped Marc in a hug, and isn’t letting go of the boy, telling him how cute he looks, “Rey, let me hug him too.”

Rey pouts at that, letting go of Marc, who’s already a soft pink from all the compliments. Rey steps back and looks Nathaniel and Alix over, “You two look very nice as well.”

Jasmine notes the jealous aura coming off of Nathaniel, promptly leaning on Rey’s shoulder, “You might want to calm down with the compliments, Rey. You sound like you’re about to proclaim your love for him or something.”

“But I do love Marc. Who doesn’t? He just looks so cute tonight!” Rey clasps his hands together, beaming at Jasmine.

“You’ve said that about literally all our classmates.” Marinette chuckles and pats his shoulder.

“Because everyone looks so cute, and I love all of you!” Rey promptly scoops Marinette in a hug, his smile way too bright.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s just a big softy.” Cerise whispers to her cousin, “He’s not going to try to put the moves on Marc.”

“I can see that now.” Nathaniel’s face burns red, as he takes a step forward, taking Marc’s hand, “Why don’t we go inside?”

“You guys go ahead. I’ve got to explain how dances work to these guys.” Marinette waves them off, Nathaniel leading everyone, but Adrien, Alya, and Nino inside. Marinette turns back to her friends, smiling brightly, “Alright, so I forgot to tell you about enchanted music.”

“I should have guessed it wouldn’t be normal.” Nino holds the bill of his cap.

“Yeah. Well, it’s not that different, but the music kind of tells you how to dance to it, so everyone is in sync, and even people who don’t really know how to dance, can dance with it. Some of it will be regular ballroom dancing, but other songs are fully choreographed dances. There will be a few songs that don’t have the enchantment, so don’t be surprised if the music doesn’t tell you what you’re doing every now and then. There are a few songs that my class has our own choreography for, so if one of us taps you, don’t be concerned, that something is telling you different steps from what everyone else is doing.” Marinette smooths out her skirt, her eyes taking on an excited gleam, “Oh, also, don’t be concerned if things start popping up from nowhere, they’re usually manifestations, and they won’t hurt you. Any questions?”

“No, but a lot of concerns.” Alya crosses her arms, “Though I would like to know where I can put my jacket.”

“Oh, yeah! Follow me. The coat closet is over here.” Marinette leads them out of the lobby, and into the ballroom.

 

The ballroom is full of people, despite it being pretty early in the ball, and everyone is dancing. Normally at a dance, there are people hanging on the sidelines; no one is here. It’s a little surreal for Adrien, Alya, and Nino, who are being pulled over to Marinette’s class, and being formally introduced to everyone, finally. 

Adrien ends up immediately making friends with two guys in casual clothes, Elijah and Harrison. The guys have apparently decided that Adrien is their new friend, and have roped him into dancing with them and another guy, named Daniel. Adrien is having a blast with the group, especially when Harrison finds out he does fencing and karate, the two ending up in a mock battle, to the beat of the song playing, much to the other’s amusement.

Alya and Nino are much more out of place, rarely separating, unless Marinette, Mona, or Cerise step in, to dance and talk with them, mostly Cerise and Marinette talking to Alya, while Mona dances with Nino, when Cerise is occupied.

Marinette on the other hand, is living it up, making it very clear to Alya that she’s knows this group, and trusts them more than her previous class, or possibly even Alya. She can’t say that doesn’t hurt, but she decides that she’s going to make an active effort to get to know Marinette’s friends too; so, about halfway through the dance, she moves from Nino, telling him what she’s doing, before she moves to talk to, and dance with the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second one today. I had an instant burst of inspiration, and I even have a bonus chapter I'll probably put up sometime tomorrow, though, that chapter is not necessary to read and completely indulgent on my end.


	10. Bonus Ballroom Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a bonus chapter of one of the dances they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There are themes of violence in this chapter. 
> 
> This is just a bonus chapter, it's not necessary to read to understand the story, but it does give a little background on the issues some of the characters have dealt with. A few of the backgrounds are intentionally hard to figure out, for example, Rebel. 
> 
> This song I modeled their dance off of is Bad Apple! Ft. Cristina Vee by Richaadeb.

A song that Alya doesn’t recognize starts up, Marinette giving a cheer, as the entire dance floor starts moving into rings of dancing people, the music telling her the moves, as Laily guides her. Marinette moves on her own, separate from the rest of the crowd, as she darts around, tagging Rapunzel, Mona, Rey, Rebel, and Marc in turn, creating a black ribbon that attaches to each of their wrists, and connects them to Marinette. 

Towards the change in song tempo, Marinette moves to the center of the dancing people, pulling the black strings towards her, as a yin and yang symbol forms on the floor immediately under her. Each of their respective partners grab onto them, as black circles form under the five selected people’s feet, the pairs moving in time to the music. Marinette circles and pulls off a wonderful acrobatic dance, while directing the strings, and the five circles rotating around her.

The pairs move in sync, each pulling a different theme to the words of the chorus when it starts. Glowing golden tears stream down Rapunzel’s cheeks, as she holds a shadow gun to Angel’s face, Angel gently moving forward and taking it from her, while wiping the tears, the dark ribbon connecting to Marinette gaining a bit of white, while Marinette points to the next in the order.

Mona starts disappearing from sight, literally turning invisible, with the line of the song. Cerise finds her midsection, filling Mona with color again, white developing in the circle around her. Marinette does a flip, pulling at Rey’s line, the circle moving closer, as it turns red, three lines of black circling around his feet, his blue eye glowing prominently. Jasmine sets her hand on Rey’s waist, pulling him into a close partner dance, that turns the circle pink, pushing back the black line connecting to Marinette.

Marinette turns to Rebel next, causing Rebel’s circle to spin, six silver balls rotating around Rebel, as her eyes fill with glowing blue tears. Nash gently takes one of the balls away, stepping in to twirl Rebel the opposite way, Rebel’s line gaining a gentle white fading into the black towards Marinette. 

Marinette rolls her shoulders, yanking Marc’s line close to her. Marc’s eyes start glowing, his circle turning into a rainbow, before clouding over, his eyes doing the same, as bruises develop on his cheeks, and he falls to the ground. Nathaniel steps in, holding out his hand, and pulling him close, the line connecting to Marinette turning white again.

The circles start moving away from Marinette, as each pair does their own dances, and pushes the lines connecting them to Marinette back and forth with the song, Marinette spinning into the white part of her yin yang symbol, for a second with the song, the lines gaining full white, until she viciously yanks them towards her, flipping back into the black portion of the circle, the darkness seeping up into the lines, causing them to repeat their beginning dance again, just a little different, with more intimate moves between the five pairs. 

The second time they push back against Marinette, causes the yin yang symbol to break into thirteen different colored ribbons, that circle around her, each of the pairs moving forward to try and help her, getting blocked out every time, as the ribbons each turn black, creating a ball around her, as the song fades out.

The class cheers, Marinette’s manifestation disappearing from around her, as the others rush forward to give each of them hugs.

“You guys should do that for aerial competitions!” Lillian calls out, scooping Marinette in a hug.

“That’s a little personal for competitions.” Rey rubs the back of his neck nervously, blushing when Jasmine wraps her arms around him.

“I agree with Lillian. That’s a wonderful idea for competitions. I love it, Nette.” Rebel squishes Marinette in a side hug, causing the girl to chuckle softly.

“I loved the song, and it made me think of you guys. I was going to bring it up to you next practice.” Marinette smiles up at Rebel, a nervous hint to her eyes.

“We’ll debate it next practice.” Rebel presses a kiss to her forehead, before moving over to Nash, and taking his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel's lyric: Ever on and on, I continue circling, with nothing but my hate, in a carousel of agony,  
> Mona's lyric: Till, slowly I forget, and my heart starts vanishing, and suddenly,  
> Rey's lyric: I see that I can't break free. I'm slipping through the cracks,  
> Rebel's lyric:of a dark eternity, with nothing but my pain, and the paralyzing agony  
> Marc's lyric: To tell me who I am, who I was, uncertainty, enveloping my mind, until I can't break free.
> 
> This chapter is just very self indulgent on my end.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely not an akuma attack. Meet the Emotional Charms!

Having class with Lila is almost insufferable for Alya, now that she knows the girl is lying about almost everything. Alya’s gone back and fact checked as much of Lila’s claims as she could, finding most, if not all, the claims to be false. 

Somehow Alya still ends up believing her for a split second, when she spouts off a new lie, before reminding herself to check it. 

She and Nino have been discussing how to take her down, and expose her lies for weeks now, but nothing they’ve tried so far has worked for them, the rest of the class strongly backing up Lila for everything she says. 

Alya’s getting sick of it. These people used to be extremely loyal friends, but now they’re all acting as if anyone that doesn’t believe Lila is acting out of a hatred of her and them. Mylène even went so far as to say Marinette left school, because she couldn’t handle no longer being the center of the class’s attention. It’s something Alya never thought she’d hear Mylène say, and it’s really getting at her. She doesn’t know what to do, and for the first time since she made friends with her, Marinette won’t help.

The whole problem just feels like something out of her worst nightmare, and she's helpless to do anything. 

 

It’s been almost a month since Marinette left the school, and the feeling of helplessness has been growing more with every day that passes by. It’s torture. 

 

“For the hundredth time, Alya. I’m not lying. I don’t understand why you keep saying I am. It hurts that you’d think that of me, when all I’ve done is be nice to you.” Lila looks up at Alya, her eyes filling with tears. She’s a very good actor, Alya will give her that.

“Then how do you explain the research I did? Prince Ali doesn’t have a pet tiger, so I don’t know how in the world you could possibly have ran with one at his home.” Alya flicks through her research, showing the proof to Lila.

“I told you; it was a visiting pet, one of Prince Ali’s friends. Isn’t that right, Rose?” Lila looks back at Rose, a quiver starting on her lips. 

Alya slowly realizes that the conversation ended up being a lot louder than she intended, and most of the class is glaring at her now.

“That’s right.” Rose speaks up, a frown settled on her face, “Lila wouldn’t lie to us about something like that.”

“Yeah. Did Marinette put you up to this? She doesn’t even go here anymore.” Kim crosses his arms, watching Alya with disappointment in his eyes.

“No, Marinette didn’t put me up to this. I finally did some fact checking, and called some of the people Lila claimed to have met. Only Prince Ali remembered her name, and just barely. Everyone else says they don’t know her. I’ve got proof that she’s lying.” Alya flicks through her phone viciously, her sight snapping up, when Mylène speaks.

“We don’t want to hear whatever quote proof you have. You’re biased, because you’re friends with Marinette, and you’re both being mean to Lila for no reason. Lila would never lie to us. You’re just jealous, because she’s had a more interesting life than you have.” 

Alya almost drops her phone. Her heart feels like it’s cracking down the middle. Nothing she says will get through to them. She can’t fix this. 

_That’s right, little one. Your friends won’t listen, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Doesn’t that hurt?_ A voice seems to whisper into Alya’s mind, her eyes clouding over with tears.

“Yes.” Alya chokes out her response, only after feeling the pull on her throat.

_I can take that hurt, that insufferable anguish, away from you. Just close your eyes._ Alya obeys the voice, closing her eyes and letting her pain leave her. 

 

\--- 

 

“We’ve never seen a possession outside of the magic arrondissements.” Alex whispers to her partner, perched on the top of François Dupont, surveying the damage done by Anguish so far, “Isis, you alerted Yi, correct?”

_Correct. Her keeper and Baalis’s should be here soon. We didn’t think we’d be needed again so soon after the last incident, so they’re untrained._ Isis speaks up in the back of her mind.

Volf kneels on the rooftop, completely on edge, “We should be down there minimizing the damage.”

“We should stay right here, so the newbies know what they’re doing. We need to figure out why Anguish possessed a non-magic too. They have nothing to gain from that.” Alex scrunches her nose, tapping her fingers against her knee, “Besides, Kitten Noir looks like he’s handling this pretty well.”

“He’s going to get hurt. Where is Creation?” Volf looks around the skyline, gripping his weapon worriedly.

“I don’t want them here. They might try to break the possessed object, and then we’d have a much bigger issue on our hands.” Alex rolls her eyes, sighing in relief, when she sees two figures with Yi and Baalis’s signatures jumping over the rooftops, “Here they come. Try not to yell at these two, lobito.”

“No promises.” Volf crosses his arms grumpily, rising with her.

The two new keepers land on the rooftop next to Alex and Volf, the one in a spring green, pink, and orange outfit speaking up first, “Hi. Yi says this one is ours, but she didn’t tell me much more than that.”

“Yep. I’ll talk you through it, when we get down there. Volf is getting worried about Kitten Noir.” Alex stretches out her arms, “Let’s make this quick, so we can do names afterwards.”

Volf rolls his eyes at her, before jumping down to the ground level, Alex right behind him. The newbies are understandably confused, but follow them down anyway.

“So we’re just jumping into this; no explanation first?” The one in a tan and black outfit calls out to them, his nose scrunched up.

“Yep! Joy’s keeper just needs to get the possessed object, then banish the shadow. Easy.” Alex heads over to Chat Noir, tapping him on the shoulder, while Volf engages the possession, “Hello there, Chat Noir. We’ll take it from here.”

“I’m sorry, what? Who are you?” Chat Noir’s eyes get about three times bigger, as Alex gently pulls him away from the possession.

“I’m Alex, keeper of Peace and Protection, and unofficial ringleader of the Emotional Charms. Nice to meet you.” Alex pats his shoulder, keeping an eye on the fight, while talking to him, “This is not whatever weird thing you miraculous holders have been dealing with this time. This is a shadow, specifically the shadow of Anguish, and only we can deal with it. We’ve never seen a possession outside of magic territory before though. What have you gathered about them so far?”

Chat Noir just pushes his hair back, overwhelmed by the new information, “The person is Alya Cesaire. She runs the Ladyblog. She tried to out Lila for lying, but it backfired on her. She was really upset, and has been for the past couple of weeks, about no one listening to her. She’s not a magic.”

“I can most certainly tell that. Anguish would be so much stronger right now, if she was.” Alex hums, watching Joy’s keeper capture the possessed item, while Volf instructs him on how to bubble it, and enact the banishing spell. She feels the energy burst from it, reversing all the damage done by the possession.

“Woah.” Chat Noir seems to have been watching too, “What was that?”

“Reversal spell. It takes the shadow’s energy and reverses all the damage done by it. I have to get over to the others, but I need you and Ladybug to know not to engage another possession, if one happens outside of magic territory again.” 

“How do we tell the difference between that and an akuma?” 

“Possessions always look like the person they possess, but their veins are prominent, and colored with the shadow’s aura, and their eyes are clouded over with the same aura and color. They may manifest armor, or weapons, but they always have that aura tint to their eyes and veins.” Alex watches Volf lead the two newbies to her, “Anyway, we have to go, but thank you for the help, gatito.”

“So, Fierté here doesn’t want to share names.” Volf walks over to Alex, the group heading out the doors and leaving Chat Noir to stare after them in confusion for a minute. Volf and Alex’s armor changes into regular looking clothes, as they walk.

“That’s annoying, but we can’t make him.” Alex shrugs and looks back at the newbies, “Um, what’s with the masks? You know you don’t need them, right? Like, no one can tell who you are when you’re possessed, and that stuff isn’t comfortable.”

“Also cool it with the armor, when we aren't fighting. Someone’s gonna notice.” Volf adds.

The two boys look at each other, then both take a minute, before their armor changes and their masks fade away. Joy rubs his arms nervously, “Sorry. Yi didn’t tell me a lot. I didn’t even know she was from another plane, until today.”

“It’s okay. We’ll explain everything over lunch. I’m letting Isis unpossess me, so if you aren’t comfortable with that, then feel free to take off now.” Alex looks between them.

The boys look in between each other, Fierté a little more on edge than Joy. After a moment, they both nod their agreement.

Alex rolls her eyes at them, then splits into two separate people. Rebel looks over at Volf, Isis clasping her hands together next to her, “Wanna let Rai out, lobito?”

Volf flicks her nose, splitting into Nash and Rai. Nash looks back at the other two, raising an eyebrow at the shocked expressions, “It looks like they might already know us.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Rebel shrugs, starting down the sidewalk, “Anyway, I’m sure you two have a lot of questions. We’ll head to my house. Let me just text Papi and Mamá first. Maman is probably eating with her class.”

Rai and Isis have already moved to hold hands, Isis looking over at the boys with a fond smile, “Yi and Baalis have been telling me about you two. They absolutely adore you.”

Joy seems to recover a lot faster than Fierté, running a hand through his hair, “Is it safe for us to know each other’s identities? In stories no one knows.”

“Of course it’s safe. It’s not like the shadows live on this plane, and Abuela didn’t install a cloaking enchantment to the charms for no reason.” Rebel sets a hand on her hip, “Besides, it makes communication and training so much easier.”

Joy opens his mouth, then closes it, changing into two different people. Marc rubs his arm, looking over at them nervously, “Um, hey guys.”

Yi on the other hand, positively dives on Isis and Rai, “Look at my keeper this time! Isn’t he such a sweetie! He invites me out with him to do things too!”

“Hey, Marc.” Rebel heads back over to him and promptly ruffles his hair, “Nice to see you. I definitely didn’t expect you to be with Yi, Priti would be more fitting for your personality.”

Marc holds his hands up to his chest, “Yi says that she chose me, because I do what makes me happy, and want to make others happy more than anything.”

“Hmm, I can see that.” Rebel sneaks a looks over at Fierté, grinning at the takeover of love and adoration in his aura, “Do you still want to stay possessed, rojito?”

He looks up at her, his cheeks gaining more and more pink, before he crosses his arms, letting Baalis phase out of him. Nathaniel looks up at Marc, a hand coming up to push back his hair, “Hey.”

Marc’s lips form a little o, before his face breaks into a smile, “It looks like we’re both superheroes now.”

Nathaniel looks back at him, then chuckles, “Yeah. I guess we are.”

“I heard something about lunch? I’m so hungry.” Baalis pouts, the dark skinned boy slumped over Yi, while she laughs at him.

“You barely even know what hungry feels like.” Yi looks up at him, flicking his nose.

“We might as well go to a restaurant instead, if we’re all staying. We don’t want to inconvenience Eliott.” Isis looks the group over, earning a nod from Rebel.

“That might be best.”

“Ooh, can we go to one with pasta? I love pasta.” Baalis perks up, removing himself from Yi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love the idea of anyone calling him Kitten Noir. And yes, Rebel personally chose her "superhero" name to be Alex, meaning protector of mankind, to confuse everyone. I love her.
> 
> To those who've been asking me about Emotional Charms, my original story, I finally decided to start putting it up here in chapter to chapter format, that will be sporadically updated as well. Make sure to read the tags before deciding to read it, because it is dark. It's under Original Works, and I think you can find it, if you just click on my name.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading this! You're all amazing. -Over


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discussions of coming out to the non-magics, and sporadic decisions of a sleepover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real quick note: Mage Rouche is like the magic community's mayor.

“Anguish possessed a non-magic, and we didn’t know they could do that. We need to alert Mayor Bourgeois, or people could get hurt.” Alex perches on Mage Rouche’s desk, her hands clasped in her lap, while Volf stands next to her, “I know the reversal spell alters the damage done, but it doesn’t alter memories, and most non-magics don’t have a sound enough mental state to handle those kinds of memories, especially if one of the more violent shadows gets a hold of them.”

Mage Rouche folds her hands under her chin, looking up at Alex skeptically, “I understand what you’re saying, but we’ve never revealed ourselves to the non-magic world before. We aren’t going to now.”

“With all due respect, Mage Rouche. We’ve never had magic issues transpire in non-magics, or non-magic territory. We just need to alert the mayor, so he knows what’s going on, and so we can try to implement our techniques. That way we don’t get the worst shadows developing, and trying to level Paris.” Volf watches her, trying to present himself in a respectful manner, “Would you at least put up a vote to do so? We will bring it up at a city council meeting if need be.”

“I will put up a vote, but be prepared for the community to disagree. We’ve stayed silent for centuries, and you know as well as I do, how violent some of those non-magics can be.” Mage Rouche leans back in her chair, looking in between the two keepers worriedly.

“They’ve taken fairly well to Ladybug and Chat Noir, and we’ve got plenty of examples of magics with non-magic partners, that have turned out very well. We need to at least give the city the option to respond well.” Alex kicks her feet a little, leaning back at offering Mage Rouche a smile, “Though we don’t expect an immediate response. Please think over it, and discuss it with your board. We’ll keep an eye on the situation, and report to you, if there are more problems.”

“Thank you very much, Alex. If you don’t mind, I’m supposed to go have lunch with my sons today.” Mage Rouche rises from her desk, Alex immediately jumping up and bowing to her.

“Of course. Have a wonderful day Mage Rouche. We’ll be by in two weeks to give you another report, unless problems arise sooner. Thank you for your time.”

 

\---

 

“Revealing ourselves to the non-magics? That’s a risky proposal.” Marinette scrunches her nose as she stitches her project, looking up at Caroline and Lucie, who’ve been discussing the newest vote coming up on the city roster in the commons room.

“It is, but it’s a little overdue.” Lucie flicks through her paperwork, the olive-skinned girl having tied back her long black hair today, “The magic community in Nice already came out to their city, along with Marseille, and about twenty-three smaller cities around France, last I heard. If our community takes this step, we could very well see a vote come up in the Conseil de Magique en France. We’d be the first majority non-magic state to be out to the non-magics.”

“Yeah, but do you think it’ll actually pass? Judging by our school’s reaction to Rey when he and Mona first came here, we aren’t ready to fully accept non-magics yet.” Caroline chews on the skin around her nails.

Lucie reaches over and pulls her hand away, rubbing the back of it with her thumb, “It’s just progress getting it up for a vote. Even if the vote passes, we certainly aren’t taking down the enchantment lines for a long time. It’s going to take a while to knock down those insecurities, and even longer for the non-magics to adapt.”

“It’s going to take so long for the non-magics to adapt. The majority doesn’t take well to people different to them, and the ones in power will probably feel threatened by us.” Marinette sticks the next pin in her pincushion, “They’ve taken well to the heroes, but that’s only a small handful of people with magic.”

“That’s a lot different too. They have enchanted objects that grant them their magic. If you take away those objects, you take away their magic. You can’t take away our magic, and there is a lot of us.” Caroline intertwines her fingers with Lucie’s, her aura stained with worry, “We don’t know how they’ll react.”

“That’s true, but we will always know how we react. If the vote passes, I’ll be one hundred percent behind it. How about you?” Lucie moves Caroline’s hand to her lips.

Caroline’s tan skin flushes, the girl ducking her head shyly, “Of course.”

“And you, Nette?” Lucie turns to the other girl, still holding Caroline’s hand.

“Well, yeah. I trust Mage Rouche’s decision.” Marinette continues her stitch work, her eyes not leaving the fabric.

Lucie chuckles at that, looking back at Caroline, “See, no matter what happens, we’ve got this.”

Caroline visibly relaxes, squeezing Lucie’s hand, “You’re right. We’ve got this.”

 

\---

 

“Good afternoon, sol!” Rebel calls out, skipping over to Adrien and wrapping him up in a hug on Saturday, “How were your classes?”

Adrien laughs brightly, hugging Rebel back, “Wonderful, actually. We were going over beginner physical alterations today. My teacher says that I’m a natural.” 

“I figured you would be. Your signature gets stronger every time I see you.” Rebel ruffles his hair, falling back on his heels, “I just wanted to invite you out to Aerial Manifestation competitions next week. The whole class is coming, even though most of us are performing. You’d get to meet our parents though.”

“I’d love to. I’ll probably be sneaking out again though, but I’ll ask Father just in case.” Adrien rubs the back of his neck, offering Rebel a sheepish smile.

Rebel’s eyes glitter in amusement, “I won’t tell if you don’t. Either way, we’ll be going out to eat at Señor García’s restaurant afterwards, so bring your appetite.”

“Who’s Señor García again?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s Marcus’s dad. Have we introduced you to Marcus yet? He’s Akash’s best friend.”

“I don’t think so. I only know your class. Akash is your oldest brother, right?” Adrien looks towards the trolley stop, then checks his phone for the time.

“Yep. I’ve really got to introduce you to everyone. Are you free tonight?” Rebel slips one strap off his shoulder to rummage through his bag for his phone.

Adrien looks through the schedule on his phone, “Actually, yeah, but I don’t think my dad will agree to me staying out after classes.”

“Pff, It’s not like he can stop you. He can’t get over the enchantment line, and you’re in a safe place anyway. If you want to, I can set up another game night at my house. Ooh, or we could have a sleepover. We haven’t had one of those in forever. Fuck yeah. I’m setting up a sleepover. I don’t think anyone’s got anything going on tonight.” Rebel finds his phone, wiggling his hips in excitement, as he starts comprising a text message to the class group chat.

“Yeah, my dad would never let me stay the night somewhere.” Adrien runs a hand through his hair, looking down when Plagg pushes his chest, the kwami looking downright mischievous. Adrien’s eyes light a little, looking at his schedule again, “But, I don’t have anything scheduled tomorrow.”

“Woo! That’s the spirit. Akash is around your size, so I’m sure he’ll let you borrow some pajamas.” Rebel starts toward the trolley, “Alright. I think Cerise is forcing Naty to come, and the others are on board, well the ones that’ve answered so far. Ooh, it looks like Nette wants to bring your other friends over. We may not all fit in the living room this time. We’ll see.”

Adrien follows Rebel to the trolley stop, the usual trolley Adrien would take chugging towards them. They don’t take that one, waiting for another, while Rebel gives commentary on everyone in the chat group’s responses.

-

“Maman! Mamá! Papi! I’m home! Did you get my texts?!” Rebel calls into the apartment, after he and Adrien get up the stairs, holding the door for Adrien.

“Yeah, I got it, mijito!” Eliott calls back from the living room, “Maria and Mía are upstairs harvesting for dinner, and Meili's in the shower.”

“Señora García is over?” 

“Kinda. She came over from their building, so they could harvest for tomorrow at the restaurant. I hope you know you kids are cooking tonight. We’re heading out on a double date with the Webber’s.” Eliott looks up from where he’s finishing up a project, a smile lighting up his face, when he sees the newcomer, “Oh, you must be Adrien. It’s a pleasure to meet you, kiddo.”

“Hello!” Adrien smiles back at him, looking at Rebel, then Eliott, “Wow, I can definitely tell you’re related.”

“Yeah. Angel, Mona, and I’ve got Papi’s jawline.” Rebel heads over and plops down next to Eliott, “We’re definitely cooking, yeah. Anything that needs done, before everyone gets here?”

Eliott catches him in a side hug, pressing a kiss to the top of Rebel’s head, “Clean up the kitchen for me?”

“Will do. Adrien, feel free to make yourself at home. I shouldn’t be long.” Rebel hugs his father back, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek, before getting up.

“Okay. Do you need any help?”

“Nope. Thanks for the offer though.” Rebel ruffles his hair, as he passes the other boy, heading for the kitchen.

Eliott grins at the pout on Adrien’s face, the younger boy fixing his hair, “I’ve heard quite a bit about you, Adrien. It’s nice to finally meet you in person. Sabine has been overly excited about her new student, as she describes you.”

Adrien’s cheeks dust with a shy pink, “She’s very sweet, and she’s a wonderful teacher. She reminds me of my mom, just not nearly as energetic.”

“Hehe, you don’t know the half of it.” Eliott finishes his last stitch, tying it off and setting the garment down, “How do you feel about your altering magic so far?”

“I love it. It makes me think about things in different ways, and with all the classes, I can do a lot more now. I’ve been heading to Tom and Sabine’s before classes and getting a few more lessons from Sabine, because she was really insistent, and they’ll let me help with the baking! They also give me lots of treats, and I’ve been able to bribe the Gorilla not to tell Father. He’s got a weakness for blueberry tarts.” Adrien sits up a bit straighter in his seat, his eyes glittering with interest.

“The Gorilla?”

Adrien ducks his head awkwardly, “Yeah. He’s my bodyguard. I’ve never heard his name, and he doesn’t really talk. He doesn’t seem to mind the nickname though. He actually seemed kind of amused when I gave it to him. Though, I was a lot younger.”

“I figured as much.” Eliott stretches out his legs, tucking away his needle and thread, “I’m guessing your father doesn’t know you’re here?”

Adrien’s aura ignites with fear, the boy clasping his hands together nervously, “Well, he knows that I’m staying the night somewhere, but he did not okay it, no.”

Eliott’s lips turn up in a grin, “So long as he doesn’t think you’ve gone missing. I’d hate to worry the poor man.”

“Yeah. He’s a little overprotective sometimes. He’s just doing what he thinks is best for me though.” 

The doorbell rings, causing Eliott to roll his eyes, “I’ve told them to just come on up a thousand times already. The door isn’t locked.”

Eliott gets up from his spot, picking up his stuff as he does so, Rebel popping his head out from the kitchen, “Oh, that must be the boys. You got it, Papi?”

“Yeah. I’ve got to put my stuff in the shop anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm being a little self indulgent with the sleepover thing, but hey, it's my story, and I love writing sleepovers.
> 
> Next chapter: Sleepover. A lot of people at this sleepover. It's gonna be self indulgent chaos, and I'm very here for it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleepover fluff. That's it. Just fluff, mostly...

“Alright! Are we waiting for anyone else?” Rebel calls out to the group from the back of the living room, where he and Akash just finished moving all the furniture to make more room on the floor for everyone.

“Nope! I think this is everyone. How you managed to spontaneously do this on a night where literally everyone was free, I will never know.” Lillian lays out over Chris’s lap dramatically, grinning when the blonde rolls his eyes.

“We’re headed out, kids! Have fun. Don’t disturb the neighbors, unless you want to be stuck babysitting, and don’t set anything on fire. I love you guys.” Maria blows a kiss to her kids, Eliott and Meili giving their sentiments after her, before heading out of the house.

The Huang’s call their I love you’s back, while Rebel moves to collect the board games from the shelf, “Alright guys. There’s a bunch of us this time, so we’re gonna double up our sets. Everyone okay with Apples to Apples?”

“Oh, you just want to torture us now, don’t you.” Marcus pouts, the group automatically circling up on the floor, the others directing the newbies.

“We’ve got almost too many people to play that, Reb.” Lucie leans forward on her hands, “Let me count. We’ve got… twenty-five people. Shit guys, there’s a lot of us this time around. We’d have to split up in groups or something.”

“You have a point. Do we want to split into groups, or play another game?” Akash settles down next to Marcus, flicking the tan-skinned boy’s nose.

“We can split into groups for now. Who wants to cook with me?” Rebel sets out the three sets of Apples to Apples, “Also, for the newbies, we’ve got English, Spanish, and French. You can join whichever set you know. Usually we mix them all together, and it’s chaos. Beautiful chaos.”

“Wow. I’m morbidly curious to see how that works.” Alya leans forward curiously, “Do you have more games in other languages?”

“Yeah. Mostly the question games.” Lucie stretches her legs out into the circle, “Three rounds, then dinner?”

“Sounds good.” Akash affirms, setting up the English set, “Anyone for English come to me, Spanish to Marcus, and French to Lucie.”

The group splits up, Rey getting up to cook with Rebel instead.

-

“What movie do we want to watch first?” Angel pulls down a projector screen on one wall, while Lillian attaches the projector to a set up in the ceiling, Rapunzel off to the side flicking through her laptop.

Everyone else is either just coming in from changing, or setting up their blankets and pillows on the mats Rebel put down.

“The Heathers Musical!” Akash shouts out, jumping on Marcus’s back.

The shorter boy squeaks in surprise, dropping his bedding, “Akash! Warn a man!”

“That’s not as fun.”

“Can we not watch The Heathers again? We watch that almost every sleepover.” Elijah comes into the room from getting dressed, pouting at the darker skinned boy.

“What’s The Heathers?” Adrien looks up from where Rebel has set him up with more pillows and blankets than he’s ever seen in one place.

“Oh god.” Marinette covers her face, “You don’t want to know. You sweet, innocent boy.”

“It’s a musical about, like, American teenagers and death. It’s amazing! We definitely have to show you.” Akash jumps off Marcus’s back and spins around excitedly.

“That sounds a little dark.” Nino settles down next to Adrien, watching the group skeptically.

“It is, but it’s art.” Akash presses a hand to his head dramatically.

“It’s really not.” Nash rolls his eyes, in between amusement and exasperation.

“I like it.” Chris plops down on the ground, watching Lillian, as he finally gets the projector set up.

“Wait, what are we talking about?” Marc pads into the room in a Ladybug onesie, Rey following him with a tower of pillows and blankets, her face lit up in delight.

Nathaniel looks up at Marc, about to say something, before the words die on his lips. He reaches up and covers his face, blushing madly. Cerise waggles her eyebrows at him, earning a hand to the face.

“The Heathers Musical. Akash wants to watch it first.” Rapunzel looks up from her laptop, “Hey, Lillian, is it set up?”

“Yeah. You’re good to go. The screen good, Angel?”

Angel looks back at them, nodding her head, “Yeah, we’ve got it, and we’re not watching The Heathers, Akash.” 

Rey scrunches her nose, dropping her pillows and blankets on the ground, “Goodness no. I hate that musical.”

“Wait, what?! Why? That’s my favorite musical. What do you have against it?” Akash twirls around to pout at Rey.

Rey fixes him point blank with a stare, “It’s a musical with attempted suicide, Akash.”

Akash winces at that, “Yeah, okay. Good point. Why don’t we watch Tangled then?”

“Ugg, why don’t we watch something without a white, straight main?” Jasmine throws herself into Rey’s pillows, causing the brunette to pout at her.

“Give me a minute to find something. I wanna watch something new.” Rapunzel flicks through her movie list, shouting out synopsises, until the group settles on a movie, just as the last person gets back from changing.

Marinette settles back into her pillows, chuckling when the others start their running commentary for the movie, “I missed this.”

“I can see why. This has been a lot of fun already.” Alya lays out on her stomach, Nino right next to her, and already entranced in the movie.

“If this is what all sleepovers are like, then I want to go to more.” Adrien curls up around his pillows, a smile set on his face.

The other three look over at him, Marinette rolling on her side to face towards him, “I’m sure Rebel will invite you to more. He’s probably going to try and keep up sleepovers for as long as we’re alive.”

“You bet I am!” Rebel calls out from where he’s nestled into Nash’s side, peeking over at them from Nash’s chest. The two are surrounded by a bunch of pillows, all of them Rebel’s.

“I can just see us all now, in our seventies and still piling into the living room for a movie night… Or in our forties and surrounded by small children.” Rey presses her face into her pillows, Jasmine giggling and scooping her up in a hug.

“You’re adorable.”

“Okay, so now we’re definitely doing that. That’s too cute to pass up.” Caroline grins, set up against the couches with Lucie and a couple of the others.

“We’ll need a bigger space for that though.” Rebel drums his fingers against Nash’s chest, clearly thinking about the logistics.

“Let’s think about that, in like, twenty years, alright?” Nash flicks Rebel’s nose, the green eyed boy sticking a tongue out at him.

Marc does not stop thinking about it, the black haired boy curling into his blanket with bright red cheeks. 

Nathaniel looks over at him, mistaking that for him being cold, “Hey, do you need another blanket? I don’t have any extra, but w-we could share if you’re cold.”

Marc’s eyes grow about three sizes at that, shyly tucking back against his pillow, “I-um, uh...”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to. Sorry, that was a stupid thing to ask. You probably aren’t comfortable with that and-”

“N-no! No, it’s, it’s fine. I’d love to share.” Marc’s voice gets progressively quieter, although Nathaniel still catches it.

Nathaniel smiles softly, picking up part of his blanket and throwing it over Marc. Marc shyly lifts up his blanket, Nathaniel taking the invitation and smiling brightly at him, “This is a lot warmer. The Huang’s always keep their house so cold. Even in the winter.”

Marc just nods in response, still trying to make his brain function properly.

 

\---

 

Marinette wakes to the quiet sounds of someone in the kitchen, nestling closer to her pillow, which is so warm and comfy. She feels a gentle pressure on top of her head, allowing herself to slip back into sleep, and ignoring the excited squeal coming from somewhere above her. 

The peace does not last long, Cerise sneaking into the room and settling herself down right in the middle of the group, before grinning and emitting a blood curdling scream.

Marinette’s up in a flash, her fists poised and ready to attack. About half the room jumps up with her, searching for the source of the screaming.

Cerise just grins at everyone, jumping up and starting toward the kitchen, “Breakfast is ready.”

“I fucking hate you.” Marcus settles down from where he was in a similar attack position, dragging a hand down his face.

Rey just starts bawling, pressing her face into her hands, from where she was curled up in her blankets. 

“Damn it, Cerise! Would you stop doing that?” Laily tugs at her hair, while Mona goes over and cuddles up Rey, whispering reassurances to the girl.

“Does she do this a lot?” Adrien runs a hand through his hair, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Cerise! Come apologize to Rey right now!” Mona’s voice is laced with anger, always a little defensive when it comes to Rey.

“Ugg, I thought she grew out of that.” Marinette plops back down on the ground.

Cerise slinks back into the room, settling down next to Rey sheepishly, “Sorry, Rey.”

Rey doesn’t stop crying, tucked away against Mona’s chest, while Mona frowns at Cerise, “Can you tell me what exactly spurred you to wake us up like that?”

“Honestly, I just wanted to see everyone’s reactions.” Cerise sets her hands in her lap, “I’m sorry I made you cry, Rey.”

Rey rubs her eyes, shrugging her shoulders, while Mona kisses the top of her head, before turning to Cerise, “If you ever do that again, then I’m making sure you wake up floating on an air mattress in the Seine, understood?”

Cerise gulps and nods her head, “Understood.”

Adrien settles back down next to Marinette, leaning back against his pillows, “Can I go back to sleep now?”

“I can’t. That was terrifying.” Nino lays back down, shivering a little, “I was worried there was an akuma or something.”

“Marinette, your friends are crazy.” Alya leans against Nino, flicking through the video she got, “But I still managed to get some good film, before she interrupted. Look.”

Alya proudly turns her phone towards Marinette. Marinette raises an eyebrow, before her cheeks start to redden, prompting Adrien to look over at the video. 

“Alya! Why would you record that?!” Marinette covers her face and groans.

Adrien’s face is brighter than Alya’s ever seen it, Adrien looking over at Marinette shyly, “I’m so sorry. I-I guess I get cuddly in my sleep? I’ve never slept with someone before.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m pretty cuddly too. Ask Alya.” Marinette lets out a sigh, before getting up, “Did someone say breakfast is ready?”

“Sí. Sorry for the rude wake up. In hindsight we really shouldn’t have sent Cerise out to wake everyone.” Rebel speaks up from the doorway, a grimace on his face, as he looks at the last few in the living room, “I’m surprised Marc’s still asleep with Nathaniel actually.”

“I think they fell asleep with their music on. Naty probably warned him.” Angel comments as she passes from the bathroom to the kitchen.

“I’ll wake them.” Marinette heads over to the two boys, gently shaking them awake.

Alya watches her, then looks back at Adrien, her hands falling into her lap sadly. Rebel takes notice, offering the other three a smile, “Why don’t you guys come get some breakfast? Afterwards we’ll probably head out to the park or something, before walking everyone home.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aerial Manifestation competitions, and some plot... I think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Sorry for the short chapter and sporadic update. I was super unmotivated to write this, and then they dropped the new leaks, and well, I'm still a little salty.
> 
> Also! Competition names: Seamstress = Marinette, Bosque = Rebel, Colour Palette = Nash, Rivière = Angel, Questionnaire = Cerise, Lunar Eclipse = Mona, Solar Eclipse = Rey

Getting to the competition place was a lot easier than Adrien thought it was, but getting through the door is another story. He’s currently watching other magics to try and figure out what they’re doing to get inside, lips pursed in thought. He finally takes a step toward the door, pressing his hand to it, and focusing on altering the door’s state. He falls through, coming up on the other side with a delighted smile. 

Someone snorts from next to him, Adrien looking up to find a girl in a silver costume and mask looking down at him, “Just now figuring out the door?”

“I- Um. Yeah? I’m still new to magic.” Adrien scrambles up from the ground and rubs the back of his neck, looking around the lobby, where people both in and out of costumes are bustling around, or heading up a stairway, “What’s with the costumes?”

“Takes away name privileges, so that the judges aren’t biased. It’s also just fun.” The silver themed girl rolls her shoulders, observing the others with indifference, “I didn’t know you were a magic, Adrien.”

Adrien blinks at the tone of her voice, finding it familiar, but he can’t exactly place it, “It’s a recent development. Do I know you?”

“Duh. I’m Kagami. It’s not that hard to tell with the costume.” Kagami sets a hand on her hip, “Though you can call me Reflection for competitions. Why are you here?”

“I’m here to see Marinette, and her friends perform. Are you performing? This doesn’t seem like your thing.”

“Aerial Manifestation is one of the most popular sports in the magic world, of course I’m performing. It’s not nearly as noble as fencing, but it’s a close third, just under archery.” Reflection tilts her head, when a voice fills the lobby, calling out five minutes to start, “Come on. I’ll show you to the audience seats on my way up. Are you meeting any of your other friends here?”

“I’m supposed to be sitting with Rebel’s family, and their class. Thank you, Kagami.” Adrien smiles at her, as they ascend the stairs with quite a few others.

 

Seamstress bolts up the stairs at the five minute mark. She had gotten to the performance center early and everything, but still managed to be a little late finishing with her costume. She sidesteps Reflection with some boy that she barely gets a look at, in her hurry up the steps, tossing back an apology to them, as she jumps to the railing to do so.

She sighs in relief when she gets to the competing stand, and plops down in the middle of her group.

“You sure took your time.” Bosque teases from his spot next to Colour Palette, kicking up one foot to settle on his knee.

“I’m so sorry. I lost track of time.” Seamstress runs a hand over the ribbons braided into the bun on her head, resisting the urge to tug on them.

“Don’t worry, hermana. We know how you are.” Rivière reaches over and pats her shoulder.

Questionnaire snorts from where she’s laying upside down on the bench, “It’s not like you’re actually late either.”

“Did you guys get another member?” A guy with an ombre black and white hair, and a makeup mask with musical notes raises an eyebrow at the group.

Bosque grins at that, nodding his head proudly, “Of course. Meet our newest member, Seamstress. Seamstress, this is our friend, Key Signature. Lunar and Solar Eclipse also joined us, since last competitions, Key.”

“I figured they would.” Key Signature leans his chin on his knee, watching Seamstress with a fond smile, “You feel familiar. Can I get your non-competition name?”

“I’d rather not, just yet. It’s my first competitions in a while. I’d like to enjoy the anonymity of it for a little while.” Seamstress settles down on the bench next to Solar Eclipse, “It’s nice to meet you though.”

“You as well. Are you a theme, story, effect, or other performer?”

“Other for now, but I might take up theme next time.” 

The stands quiet, when the announcer starts the competitions up, calling for the first performer to come up to stage.

 

Adrien is absolutely floored by all of the performances, leaning on the back of Eliott’s seat, and whispering to ask which ones are his friends again. Alya and Nino are settled next to him, Alya pouting at the fact that she can’t record anything. Eliott, Maria, Meili, Tom, Sabine, and the other’s parents, of which Adrien’s still struggling with names, are actually super sweet, shouting out encouragement and cheering for every single performer before and after their routines. 

After a little bit of this, Adrien joins in, really excited about everyone’s performances. Nino smiles over at Adrien, really glad he’s enjoying himself.

 

Seamstress bounds over to her parents, positively bursting with excitement, when she nearly crashes into another competitor, who feels oddly familiar.

“Watch where you’re going. We don’t need anyone getting hurt.” The girl with the glittery grey mask hisses out, watching Seamstress maybe a moment too long, before smirking and heading on her way to the dressing rooms.

Seamstress frowns at that, before shaking her head and looking for her parents, “Maman! Papa! I got first place!”

Tom scoops her up in a hug, a proud smile situated on his face, “We heard! We’re so proud of you!”

Sabine echoes the statement, moving to hug her daughter as well, “Why don’t you go get changed, before we head to dinner?”

“Okay! I’ll see you in a couple of minutes.” 

 

\---

 

“Wait, so that’s wasn’t choreographed?” Adrien’s has to set his chopsticks down, looking over at Rey worriedly.

Rey rubs the back of her neck and nods awkwardly, “Yeah. We kinda got docked points for it even. I’m really sorry, Mona.”

“I’ve told you at least twenty times already; Don’t apologize for having a PTSD episode. It’s not your fault.” Mona rolls her eyes, reaching over to tap Rey’s nose with a finger, “We still got fifth place.”

“I know, but-”

“If anything self deprecating comes after that but, then I’m going to throw you, okay honey?” Jasmine cuts her off, raising an eyebrow at the brunette.

Rey’s cheeks instantly burst with color, shyly ducking her head, “O-okay.”

Rebel collapses into his seat at the table, Nash following after him, the two looking a bit tired.

“What happened to you two?” Marinette settles the food dish back down in the middle of the table, nudging it towards them.

Nash moves and scoops them both out some food, while Rebel sinks to the table with a groan, “There was a possession in non-magic territory again.”

“Wow, really? Isn’t this, like the third one?” Cerise kicks her feet a little, picking up a piece of broccoli. 

“Yeah. The vote for coming out to the non-magics goes up tomorrow, and I can’t tell you how much I want it to pass. Mayor Bourgeois needs to know, so we can start implementing the aura evening techniques. I’m tired of this already.” Rebel looks up when Nash pokes his cheek with his chopsticks.

Nash picks up a piece of his stir-fry and offers it to Rebel, Rebel munching on it with a tired hum.

“How do you know that will work?” Marinette rolls her eyes at the two, adding a bit more sauce to her food, “Mayor Bourgeois may not even listen to you, if he ends up being against magics.”

“I will end him if he doesn’t listen.” 

“No you won’t.” Nash takes a bite of his food.

Rebel just scrunches his nose, while Marinette chuckles at them.

“Wait, there’s a vote going up to reveal magics? Since when has that been a thing?” Adrien sits up in his spot, tilting his head at the group.

“Since the first possession in non-magic territory. How did you not know about the vote?” Jasmine looks away from watching Rey get flustered, to look at Adrien.

Adrien just shrugs, while Marinette shakes her head at him, “He’s oblivious to everything around him.”

“Rude.” Adrien sticks his tongue out at her.

 

\---

 

“Adrien! I thought you were going to eat lunch with me today, where did you go?” Lila walks right up to him, before classes resume after lunch.

“I never said I was eating lunch with you. I always eat lunch at home, remember?” Adrien smiles politely, when she takes his arm, and starts toward the classroom.

“Maybe I should talk to your father about letting you eat lunch here instead.” 

“My father is really busy, and really, my lunch at home is a lot nicer. There’s no need.” Adrien frowns when he sees Alya and Nino sitting in the back of the classroom now, “Um, Alya, Nino?”

They look up from where they’re looking over something, Alya seeming a bit more excited than he’s seen her at school for a while, “Hey, Adrien! There’s a seat for you back here next to Nathaniel, if you want to join us, Rose and Juleka were more than happy to sit next to Lila.”

“Oh, but Adrien sits next to me, and helps me understand the schoolwork, right Adrien?” Lila strokes his shoulder in a manner that makes him highly uncomfortable.

Adrien sucks in a breath, looking back at the seat next to Nathaniel, before gently moving out of Lila’s grasp, “Of course I’d like to sit next to Nathaniel. I’m sure one of the others would be more than happy to help you, Lila”

Adrien moves towards the seat in the back, blinking in surprise, when he looks back at Lila, and feels something sharp coming off over her, undoubtedly another sense his magic has given him. He doesn’t know what it means though, only that it feels unpleasant.

He catches a feeling from Alya, which is a little more pleasant, and thrumming with energy, and turns to look at her over Nino. She’s got her fists up in a bit of a triumphant motion, turning to Adrien and leaning over Nino, “Awesome! Part one of Operation Liar Take-down is complete.”

“Babe, how many parts does this operation have?”

“Too many, unfortunately. Rebel has been helping me think through this, since the shadow thing possessed me. It does feel nice to celebrate the little accomplishments.” Alya leans her head on Nino’s shoulder, a light blush starting to bloom across her cheeks when he kisses the side of her head.

“Well, if it helps, then I’m all for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Key Signature is also an ML character.
> 
> I know I didn't mention the others this chapter but here are their competition names: Oceana = Jasmine, Tech Princess = Rapunzel


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The result of the vote is up, and the Huang's will use literally any excuse to have a party.

Rebel bounds over to Adrien, Alya, and Nino’s school, a triumphant skip in her step, as she does so. She hops up the steps, passing a few people just now getting out of their classes on her way. She follows the line connected to Adrien’s signature, easily finding their classroom and scrunching her nose, when she sees that class is still in session.

She leans against the wall next to the doorway, listening in as the teacher says something about finding a new class representative. Her nose scrunches up in displeasure when she feels a very manipulative magic come off someone in the room. She turns to look in the classroom, so she can locate the magic, just as it dissipates. 

That does seem to get the attention of the teacher though, the red headed woman offering her a bright smile, and gesturing for her to come in, “Come on in. Is there something you needed?”

Rebel’s lips curve up in response, opening the door and heading inside, “I just need to talk to a couple friends of mine. I don’t mean to interrupt.”

“Well, class is almost over, if you want to wait in here.” She gestures to a seat next to a brunette girl, and Rebel heads over to it, listening in as the teacher finishes up the announcements.

“We’ll hold a vote for class representative tomorrow. Any questions? Alright then, you’re free to go.”

A few students get up, although the brunette girl next to her, looks Rebel over with curiosity, “Hello there. Are you new to this school?”

“Nope. I don’t go here. I’ve just got some news for a couple friends of mine.” Rebel bounces up and darts to the back, where Alya, Nino, Adrien, and Nathaniel are.

She perches on Adrien’s desk, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her, while Nathaniel rolls his eyes.

“Um, why are you here, Rebel?” Alya gets up from her seat and heads over to them, Nino right behind her.

“The vote passed!” Rebel wiggles in place, an excited squeal pulling from her throat, “We’re having a party in honor of the event, at the park down the street from our apartment, and I wanted to invite you guys out. You, Alix, and Marc are also invited, Naty.”

“For the love of god. Please stop calling me that.” Nathaniel presses his face into his hands, causing Alix to laugh.

“We’ll be there. Why don’t we go invite Marc now?” Alix gets up and heads for the door, gesturing for Nathaniel to follow her.

Kim looks over from his seat, tilting his head, “Who are you, and what vote are you talking about?”

Rebel turns to look at him, then shrugs her shoulders dismissively, and bounces up from her seat, “If you want to come with us, sol, then I can help you get past your bodyguard.”

“I can get past him on my own now.” Adrien’s chest puffs up with pride, Rebel cooing at that and ruffling his hair.

“Alya, Nino, would you two like to come with us?”

“Of course. You’ll have to tell me what the vote is for, because I never heard anything about a vote from Marinette.” Alya pulls on her bag, hearing a gasp some from Rose.

The blonde haired girl twists around in her seat, her eyes big, “Marinette? You’ve heard from Marinette, and didn’t tell us?”

“Have you apologized to Marinette for being a horrible friend yet?” Rebel sets a hand on her hip and narrows her eyes at Rose.

“Rose has nothing to apologize for. Marinette left of her own accord, because she couldn’t stand sharing the spotlight with Lila.” Mylène crosses her arms from her seat.

Rebel passes her tongue over her teeth, “Ah, so you’re that cabrón. If you must know, Marinette left so that she could feel loved and appreciated, with friends that wouldn’t alienate her, or take some new girl’s words over her own. So, Señora Rose, if you would like to communicate with, or receive updates from Marinette, then I highly suggest you apologize to her.”

Rebel heads down the rows of desks, towards the door. The brunette girl she was sitting next to earlier rises from her seat, when she passes her, “You have no right to use such vulgar language here. You’re not even from this school, so how dare you tell Rose what to do.”

Rebel looks her over, then shrugs her shoulders, “I’m giving her a suggestion, Lila, I assume. I recognize the others. I’m Marinette’s friend, and I don’t play nice with people who hurt my friends. You’re already on thin ice, so you better shape up, or you’ll be dealing with me, understood?”

“Did you just hear that? She threatened me!” Lila’s eyes pool with tears, though her aura fills with deceit, Rebel raising an eyebrow at that.

“Wow. I don’t want to deal with Deceit again, but I don’t know if I should interfere this time. That might be a satisfying fight.” Rebel tucks her hands into her skirt pockets, turning for the door again, “If you guys are coming with me, then we ought to head out. The others are already setting up.”

Alya puts away her phone, her eyes glittering proudly, as she takes the boys’ hands and drags them with her, “Come on guys. Is there going to be food?”

Rebel ruffles her hair, when she comes into reach, “Of course there’s going to be food. What kind of monster parties without food?”

Rose looks at Lila, then at the group, then Juleka, before getting up and following them out of the classroom, Juleka right behind her, “Wait! Can we come too?”

Rebel stops in her tracks, looking back at them, “Are you going to apologize to Marinette?”

Rose clasps her hands together, then nods, her aura tinted with nervousness and worry for her friend, “I-I don’t understand why Marinette doesn’t like Lila, but we were wrong to put her by herself, and I miss her.”

Rebel nods at that, then turns to Juleka, “And you?”

Juleka looks at Rose, then back at Rebel and lets out a breath, “Yeah. It wasn’t cool of us to dismiss her like that. If whatever happened made her feel upset enough to leave, then we were in the wrong.”

Rebel positively beams at them, twisting on her heel, “Then of course you can come with us! You’ll have to stick close to either Adrien or me, or Naty and his friends, if they’re coming I guess, to get over the enchantment line, but past that we shouldn’t have any issues, because I can tell non-magics about everything now! The official announcement for magics comes out tonight, so we’ll be watching that at the party, and Mage Rouche should be meeting with Mayor Bourgeois tomorrow, so they can plan an announcement for the non-magic side of Paris. Either way, we can finally get a plan in place to prevent the more disastrous shadow attacks, and I can finally stop stressing about that so hard.”

“Woah, hold up. Is that what you were talking about? You’re coming out to the city now?” Alya sets a hand on Rebel’s shoulder, as the group follows her.

“Yup. That was the vote that went up yesterday, and it passed. We’ll see how the non-magic population reacts to the news, but I’m still excited. This means no more hiding! I can easily leave the enchantment lines without worrying that I’ll accidentally manifest, because I got too excited about something.” Rebel clasps her hands together, doing a little skip.

“I’m sorry. Why are you talking about magic?” Rose tilts her head, looking confused, while Juleka stays quiet, her aura some emotion Rebel can’t pin down.

Rebel looks back at her and grins, pulling a color from her own aura and transforming it into a little flower to give to her, “Let me explain everything to you.”

 

“Marinette, I’m so sorry!” Rose practically plows the half chinese girl over in a hug, genuine tears falling from her eyes.

Marinette squeaks in surprise, barely catching her without falling over, “Rose?”

“So your family is magic, but you aren’t?” Rebel is walking next to Juleka, the two watching Rose blubber her apology to Marinette, while the pigtailed girl attempts to console her.

Juleka nods her head, clasping her hands together, “I mean, Mom is a non-magic too, but Luka is an emotional magic, and our father was a creative magic. I’m a little disappointed, but it’s okay.”

“I don’t know what to say to that.” Rebel shrugs her shoulders, “If you want to go ahead and talk to Mari with Rose, then I’m gonna go see if my family needs help.”

“Marinette! You have to see this video I got of Rebel chewing Lila out.” Alya bounds over to her friend, holding up her phone.

“Hey kiddo. Who are the new girls?” Eliott pats Rebel’s head, when she comes over to help set up the table.

“Some of Marinette’s friends from school, that finally decided to apologize to Marinette. The long haired girl, Juleka, she’s Luka’s sister.”

“Luka is Ana’s kid, right?” Maria sets down a box of food on one of the already set up tables.

“Yeah. He’s also in Lucie, Akash, and Marcus’s class, and some of my emotional classes. He’s a complete sweetheart and hears emotions, instead of seeing them.” Rebel goes and takes the next box from the cart they pulled over.

“Wow, that’s rare. Should we call Anarka and see if she wants to come to the party? Most of the other kids’ parents are coming.” Meili finishes up with the last table, waving when the Dupain’s come over with boxes of pastries and the like.

“We should. I haven’t seen her, since she stopped coming to my office.” Jade snags a dumpling from where Maria’s unpacking the first box of food, giggling when Nathasha smacks her hand.

“Wait until everyone gets here, woman!” Nathasha scrunches her nose at her wife. Jade just beams back at her and quickly stuffs the dumpling in her mouth.

“Where should we put these?” Sabine looks around the tower of boxes she’s holding.

“You didn’t need to bring so much food, jiě jie.” Meili takes a few boxes from the top of the stack and sets them on the table she just finished with.

“Nonsense. We are having a party, aren’t we?” 

“I mean, she’s not wrong.” Rayan and Lei come over with Cerise, Cerise bounding over to where Mona is watching Rapunzel and Angel attempt to put a speaker in one of the trees.

“Did you bring the red bean buns?!” Lei bounces on her heels, when she gets to Sabine, causing the shorter woman to laugh.

“Of course. I even brought extra this time. They were gone so fast New Years.”

“You are a saint!” Lei wraps her up in a hug.

Adrien sneaks over to Rebel, looking around the already pretty full section of park they’re in, “Hey, how many people are supposed to be here? This is a lot already.”

“A bunch more. I think everyone’s parents are supposed to be here, and we invited most of our neighbors, and the majority of my parent’s friends are coming. We all like to have an excuse to get together, and my parents have a lot of friends.” Rebel looks back at the group of adults fondly, before noticing Angel fall out of the tree, “Angel, what are you doing?”

Angel holds the speaker above her with a squeak of triumph, “I didn’t break it this time!”

Rebel just groans and presses a hand to her forehead, “We have a ladder, you dork.”

“Oh, right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't speak Chinese, so please tell me if that's not the right word to use for Meili and Sabine. Meili, like her partners, views almost all her friends as family, and in this, Meili is younger than Sabine, so she would definitely call her big sister, or something to that effect.
> 
> (Edited Note: I have fixed the word in that sentence. Big thank you to LadyMe for helping me out with that.)


	16. Chapter 16

Marinette is so happy to have a few of her non-magic friends back again. She still doesn't trust them, not by a long shot, but it is nice to hang out with them again. Right now they're all out at the ice rink, having a bit of a party. Philippe is currently giving Rebel and Jasmine lessons on how to properly skate on the ice, after watching both girls fall too many times to count.

Luka slides over to where Marinette is happily observing the group on the sidelines, offering her a bright smile, "This was a great idea Marinette."

"Thanks, Luka. It's actually really nice to see my magic and non-magic friends interacting like this." Marinette leans against the barrier, letting out a giggle when Lucie almost barrels over Alya, "Although, I think the siblings might be more clumsy than I am in this environment."

Luka watches Caroline intercept Lucie, before she can run anyone else over, chuckling fondly at them, "Maybe. Akash and Angel are doing just fine though."

Angel and Rapunzel are in the background doing a complicated partner dance, while Akash is laughing, as he drags Marcus with him, the tan skinned boy looking like a baby deer caught on the ice.

"I'm pretty sure they've had training." Marinette watches Juleka skate around Rose, both girls chatting with each other, "Why aren't you out there skating with everyone?"

"You aren't out there." Luka offers her a soft look, causing Marinette to blush and look away.

"You're sweet. I was just going to wait until Rebel got a little better on her feet," She looks back at him, then steps forward, a shy aura around her, "but if you want to, I'd like to skate with you."

He positively beams at her, holding out his hands. Marinette takes them and follows him back out onto the ice.

 

Adrien finally makes it to the ice rink. He had a much harder time sneaking out of the house today; because, the Gorilla was posted at his bedroom door for some reason. He pulls on his skates and heads to the barrier, searching the rink for Marinette. Marinette is out there with Luka right now, the blue haired boy showing her a few skating moves, and making Adrien's heart sink in his chest.

"¡Ay primo! Nice to see you could make it!" Rebel skates over to him, grinning from ear to ear and holding her hands out to keep her from fully crashing into the wall.

Adrien chuckles at that, leaning on the railing to grin at her, "Hey Rebel. How are you doing?"

"Trying not to fall on my ass. It's a lot harder than it looks." Rebel leans on the railing with him, sticking her tongue out at Angel as he passes by and ruffles her hair.

"It's not that bad, once you get used to it. I'm really glad everyone decided to show up. I was worried Rose and Juleka might back out." Adrien moves around and heads out to the ice, offering Rebel a hand, "Why aren't you skating with Nash though?"

"Philippe was giving Jasmine and me a lesson, because he took pity on us struggling. Either that, or he was really excited some of us would let him teach us." Rebel takes his hand gratefully, moving to keep pace with him, "Nash, Marc, Rey, and Nathaniel seem to be having fun though, so I'll let them be."

Adrien nods and keeps up the pace, watching the others with a fond smile, "Everyone looks like they're having fun. I miss hanging out as a class like this. We don't really do group events anymore."

"I can invite you to more of our outings, if you'd like. We try to do something as a class at least once a month, and we'll definitely be having more get togethers as the weather gets warmer." Rebel waves at Alya and Nino, as they skate up, Nino moving to give Adrien a hug.

"Glad you could make it, dude. I was worried you wouldn't be able to get here."

"Yeah, my dad had the Gorilla posted at my door, so it took a lot longer to leave than normal." Adrien lets go of Rebel's hand to hug him back.

Rebel smiles at the group, then ducks out sliding over to Lucie and Caroline.

 

Marinette notices Adrien after a little bit, only calling out a greeting to him, before turning back to Luka and trying the spin he showed her again.

Luka looks at Adrien, then at Marinette, then softens and takes her hand again, "That was great, Marinette. Wanna try a jump this time?"

"Sure!"

 

Lila takes a moment to observe the little gathering going on right now. Marinette and her new friends have been chipping away at her group of loyal followers, and she won't stand for it. She will have Marinette begging forgiveness at her feet. 

Lila plasters on a bright smile and turns, when she hears someone come up next to her, "Oh, you guys made- Who are you?"

Mona simply raises an eyebrow at her, her arms already crossed, "I could ask you the same question. This rink is reserved. I suggest you and whoever you're waiting on find another ice rink to skate at."

Lila clasps her hands together, offering Mona a sweet smile, "Oh, but I was invited. I'm just waiting for the rest of our classmates to get here."

Mona blinks at that, before dropping her arms, "Huh, well-"

A hand comes over Mona's mouth, Cerise glaring Lila down, "Don't listen to her. She's using manipulation magic, to get you to let her be. She is not welcome here."

Mona licks Cerise's hand, getting the girl to squeak and glare at her.

"Ugg, another mental magic, huh? I don't have time to deal with you. I'm waiting for my friends to get here." Lila simply crosses her arms and looks at the door, ignoring them.

"You aren't allowed here. Did you not hear her tell you that this rink is reserved?" Cerise sneers at her, only to get no response.

Mona taps Cerise's shoulder, leaning down to whisper to her, "Leave it. We'll just go tell the others."

Cerise looks back at Mona, then nods letting the darker skinned girl lead her back inside, "Okay, but I don't want to bring down the mood."

"We won't tell the non-magics then."

 

Marinette frowns, when she sees Mona and Cerise skate out to Rebel, the short haired girl tensing and eyeing the door. Luka notices as well, leaning down to whisper to her, "Do you think there's an akuma?"

"No. The alarms would be going off. Let's go ask Rebel." Marinette pulls Luka over to the group with her, a few others noting the tension change as well.

"-can go over to Philippe then, and if they cause any trouble, we'll call the cops." Rebel runs a hand through her hair, Lucie leaning on her shoulder.

"We'd be dealing with non-magic cops though, and she could influence them." Cerise sets a hand on her hip.

"What's going on?" Marinette pulls to a stop next to them, Luka right behind her.

"Someone with manipulation magic is trying to join the rink with us. They had a malicious aura around them." Mona looks over to where Philippe is excitedly giving pointers to Marcus and Akash, "I'll go inform him of the situation, and explain manipulation magic to him."

"Thanks, lunita. We can explain the situation to the cops, if we have to escalate it that far, and we have to receipt for the reservation. We have the advantage, because we know the magic they're using." Rebel just offer the group a fond smile, "Until they make a move, let's just have fun."

Marinette returns her smile, the group splitting up again. She turns to Luka and takes both his hands, "Hey, can you show me how to do that lift you did last time we were here? That was awesome."

Luka pulls one up her hands up to kiss the back of it, "Yeah. Do you want to challenge Angel and Rapunzel too? They've been side eyeing us."

Marinette's cheeks light up pink, nodding her head, "Yes, please."

 

Lila heads into the ice rink triumphantly, the rest of her loyal followers chattering behind her. Mylène seems to be rather upset about Rose and Juleka skipping out on them, while the others don't really care.

"I'm sorry, but the rink has been reserved for the afternoon." Philippe stops in front of them, arms crossed, "If you want to skate, then you'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Lila clasps her hands together, smiling up at him, "Of course it was reserved. We're the ones that reserved it. I have a receipt, if you need proof."

Philippe blinks at that, before shaking his head, "You must be mistaken, there's already another group inside. I checked them in earlier."

"They must be lying. I've had this time reserved for the past three days. Surely you remember me, M. Philippe. I'm Lila Rossi. I've taken a few classes with you." 

"Why would they lie about reserving this spot?"

Lila looks around him, towards the rink, and puts on a face of betrayal, "Marinette's here. She's had it out for me, since I met her. Of course she'd try to steal our spot, just to ruin our fun."

Philippe turns and looks at the ice rink, "They told me you were using some kind of magic on them."

"Wouldn't they do that just to draw suspicion away from themselves?" Lila reaches up to wipe fake tears from her eyes.

"I'll go talk to them." Philippe heads back down to the ice, his lips pulling into a frown.

"Don't worry Lila. I'm sorry Marinette's been so awful to you, but we will get this straightened out." Mylène pats her arm, glaring down at the ice.

 

"Philippe, I paid for the space today. You know this. Let me show you my receipt again." Rebel gets out her phone and shows him the receipt again, Lucie sliding up next to her.

"You could have used magic to make that." Philippe crosses his arms, his entire aura doubtful, so much so that it's beginning to worry Rebel, for reasons unrelated to the ice rink.

"We didn't. She's using manipulation magic to make you doubt us." Lucie sets a hand on her hip, watching him calmly, "You can check your actual records, if you need to. We're only at this rink because Adrien was very happy about giving you more business, and a friend of Adrien's is a friend of ours. Rebel and I can help you see through the manipulation magic, when we go back up there though."

"I'll come with you. I've dealt with Lila before." Marinette skates up to them, giving Philippe a wry smile, "It's my fault they're giving you trouble anyway. Lila got really upset when I wouldn't take her lies."

"Not your fault, rosita." Rebel rolls her eyes, happy to see trust filter back into Philippe's aura.

"Alright. I'm sorry I let the manipulation get to me." Philippe starts towards the entrance, "Adrien has definitely gotten me more business, and I've never had someone reserve the rink, before you guys did."

"It's not exactly your fault that it got to you." Lucie follows after him, the other two just behind them, "Minor manipulation magic isn't outlawed yet, but it's even difficult for magics to detect, and we have sensors for that. The best way to get around it is to either already know that they're manipulating you, or lying if that's what the manipulation is, or to trust your memories, or the person they're using the manipulation against. They can't alter your memories without your explicit permission, and a full sit down session, and usually a contract for permanent alterations."

"That's very good information to know. Thank you." 

The group seems to bristle, when they see Marinette, only Lila looking undisturbed, already ready with her lips drooping, and watery eyes.

"I re-checked with the girls, and it looks like they were definitely the ones that reserved the rink today. If you would like, you can reserve the ice rink for another day." Philippe offers them a smile, clearly trying to deescalate the problem before anything even happens.

"Marinette, how could you steal the rink from us? This was our reserved time, and you even got the owner in on it?" Lila starts crying, her aura positively radiating deceit.

"Huh, not charged with manipulation right now, but the deceit is a lot stronger than I'm sure you're comfortable, mèi mei." Lucie leans on Rebel's shoulder and observes Lila with eyes full of a mild curiosity.

Rebel just winces, nodding her head, "I normally would redirect it, but she'd be a satisfying fight."

"Lila, we reserved this time. You may have found out that we were doing this from the girls, but you weren't invited, none of you were, so please leave. We will call the police if you don't." Marinette clasps her hands together, her smile both gentle and forceful.

"You've been nothing but hateful to Lila ever since you met her Marinette, and I'm tired of you trying to hurt her. You don't even go to our school anymore. Lila reserved this time for us, so you're the ones who need to leave." Mylène crosses her arms and glares at Marinette.

Marinette looks at her, then shakes her head softly, Rebel setting a hand on her arm, "I'm okay, Rebel. Thanks. That would have hurt a while ago, but I'm done taking the fall for everything. Mylène, if you're angry with me, then that's your fault, but I'm not going to stand to the side anymore, so you need to leave, or you will get escorted from the premises by the police. And when I say police, Lila, I mean the magic police, and they will be alerted of your tendency to use manipulation magic."

Lila's eyes blow wide for a second, before she starts sniffling, "I don't even know what that means."

"Magic. Lila doesn't have magic. What are you talking about, Marinette?" Max straightens up, eyes flickering between the two.

"She's been masking her signature. I had Nate confirm that there was an enchantment on her bracelets, after Rebel felt someone use manipulation magic in your classroom the other day." Marinette just sets a hand on her hip, looking in between Lila and Max.

"She's lying. She'll do anything to hurt me, just because I like Adrien, and she thinks I'll steal him from her." Lila's words are dripping in manipulation, her aura seeming to glow with the deceit.

"I don't even like Adrien anymore. I deserve better than someone who just sits back while I get hurt." Marinette watches Lila with a gentle smile, "I am in control of my life, and I won't let you hurt me anymore. I won't let any of you hurt me anymore, so goodbye. Cerise! Did you call the police yet?"

Marinette just turns around and ignores the others, calling back to her friends.

Meanwhile, the deceit in Lila's aura pulls away from her, manifesting into a dark yellow shadow that leans down and whispers in her ear, _You deserve to be listened to. You should be in the spotlight. Everyone should worship you. ___

__"Yes they should."_ _


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter! Lila gets possessed by the shadow of Deceit, and apologies from the rest of Nette's classmates.

The shadow phases into Lila, making her veins an inky gray and changing her outfit into a version of Deceit's usual armor. The possession letting out a delighted cackle, as Lila's classmates scatter.

Rebel and Lucie just share a look, before Rebel grumbles and looks back at the rink, "Cerise! Mona! This one's yours!"

Marinette is already darting for the bathrooms, Cerise and Mona on her heels, while Rebel brings up a shield made of a shadowy royal blue.

"Let's go, tramposa. I've been dying to fight you for months now." 

" _Look at this one trying to be brave. We'll destroy you._ " The possession manifests a couple of daggers, throwing them at Rebel and Lucie, and starting to make its way to the ice.

Lucie catches the one thrown her way, and spins on her heel to launch it right back, while Rebel simply deflects with her shield, manifesting her own dagger and returning the favor.

The possession dodges both, rolling and sending another volley of weapons, only for them to be blocked by Ladybug's yoyo, "Starting the fight without me?"

"Not your fight, buginette." Minou jumps out into the fight, balancing on the back of a chair.

"Woah, who are you?" Ladybug grinds to a halt, making her vulnerable to the possession's daggers.

Lavendre darts in front of her, using her fans as a shield to block the weapons, "She's Minou, and I'm Lavendre. We're a part of the emotional charms, and you will get hurt if you're not paying attention."

"Sorry."

" _There you are. Time to get rid of you, Honesty._ " The possession launches at Minou, who flips over them, and throws her knives at their back.

"You fall for that everytime. Have you not learned anything?" Minou perches on another seat, rolling her eyes at the possession.

"Woah, woah! Lets not injure the akuma victim!" Ladybug's eyes widen and she holds her hands out worriedly.

"They aren't an akuma victim. They are a shadow possession, and if you're going to stay, you can at least help us get the object the shadow possessed." Lavendre pulls a couple seeds from her pocket and launches them at the possession, several vines attempting to envelope them.

They simply cut through the vines, and pull the knives out, " _I won't fall for that one again._ "

"Yet you fell for my flip attack?" Minou shakes her head and dodges her daggers, when the possession throws them back at her.

"It's in the bracelet!" Ladybug shouts, throwing out her yoyo to trap the possession, while it's distracted.

Lavendre nods and darts forward to grab the bracelet, barely dodging a slash from the possession's knife, as it struggles. The possession crumbles to the ground when she finally gets it and tosses it to Minou, the armor and gray color in Lila's veins leaving her. 

Minou bubbles the object and closes her eyes, the bubble filling with a gray smoke. Lila's bracelet drops out of the bubble, and Ladybug watches with fascination, as gold smoke starts to cancel out the grey. The bubble turns solidly gold and pops, sending a wave of energy through the room that fixes everything.

"Ugg, what happened?" Lila looks around the room frowning and trying to piece everything together.

Lavendre hums and kneels down next to her, "You were just possessed by the shadow of Deceit. Would you like to tell me why you feel the need to lie to everyone around you?"

Lila looks up at her, her eyes still unfocused, "Non-magics are so stupid, they can't even defend themselves against basic manipulation. Even the magics they hang around are infected by their idiocy. They're second class citizens and nothing more."

"Excuse me? Non-magics are just as valuable and important as magics are." Max pushes up his glasses, his teeth gritted. The rest of Lila's followers trail him, all looking pissed.

Minou looks pleased at that, as the group goes off on Lila, turning and tilting her head at Lavendre. Lavendre nods and stands up, the two making for the door.

"Wait! Can I talk to you two for a minute? I've never met superheroes without miraculouses before, and what was that?" Ladybug sprints to catch up with them, the girls sharing a look.

"Did Chat Noir not tell you about us?" Minou sets a hand on her hip, calico tail flicking behind her. 

"No. He never said anything about you." 

Lavendre sighs softly and looks over at the ice rink, "Well, the basics are, that we are magics and magic based. Shadows used to only possessed magics, unless there weren't any they could feed on, but they've taken to some non-magics lately to reasons we can't figure out. The shadows are out to destroy our charms, so that they can possess a person more permanently, and take over their lives. They used to be more covert, but after the last event that took almost all the previous keepers, they've been making a lot of noise, similar to the akumas you deal with. If you see a possession, do not engage. Get away and help clear the area. We will take care of them. We aren't going to do any celebrity whatevers like you miraculous holders do either, so don't ask."

"I won't, and I'll start keeping a better eye out for them now. Thank you." Ladybug smiles at the girls and starts towards the exit, "I need to be going now, but thank you for everything. Is there a way for me to contact you, if I have more questions?"

"N-"

"Mage Rouche." Minou cuts Lavendre off, glaring at the purple themed girl, "Contact Mage Rouche, and tell her you have questions for us. Alex and Volf will probably be the ones to meet up with you."

"Are they your leaders or something?"

"I mean, technically, I guess. They've been around their guardians much longer than we have, since their parental figures were their charms' previous keepers. We kinda just defer to them, cause they know more." Minou shrugs her shoulders, while Lavendre grumbles about giving too much personal information next to her.

Minou shoots her a look, and Lavendre glares right back. Ladybug just slowly backs away from them, sensing the tense energy.

 

Marinette heads back into the ice rink, watching as a sniffling Lila runs right past her. She can't say that isn't a little satisfying.

Max, Mylène, Ivan, and Kim are currently talking to Alix, Nino, and Alya, the first four still visibly upset. They all stop talking when Marinette tries to walk past them to get back onto the rink, where the others are just now filtering back in.

Mylène starts crying, coming over to Marinette, "Oh, Marinette! I'm so sorry! We've been so horrible to you."

Marinette looks back at her, then sighs softly and holds her hands out for a hug, "I'm not going to say it's okay, because it's not, but I forgive you."

Mylène launches into her arms, Ivan following right after her. 

Max rubs his arm awkwardly, "I should apologize as well, Marinette. I should have listened to you, and I definitely should have noticed the manipulation magic earlier."

"Me too. I mean, on the listening to you thing. That wasn't good of any of us. I'm not sure how to combat, like real magic though. It's still weird to me that that exists." Kim scratches the back of his neck.

Marinette just smiles at the boys, "Apologies accepted. Do you guys want to come skate with us? You can meet my new classmates from Suerste."

"We'd love to. Thank you, Marinette." Max smiles back at her, him and the others settling down to put on their skates.

Rebel bounds over to them, Lucie following after her with a snort, "Yay! More people that finally apologized to Nette! We don't trust you, but you're absolutely welcome to hang out with us!"

Lucie facepalms from next to her, "Oh my god, méi mei. You can't just tell someone you don't trust them like that."

"Of course I can. I just did." Rebel grins back at her sister, clasping her hands together and spinning in a circle, "Can we go back on the ice now, rosita? Nino said he was gonna plug his phone in, and I'm gonna dance even if I can't move well in these skates."

"You're a disaster." Alix passes them and heads back onto the ice.

Marinette brings a hand up to her mouth and giggles, turning to look over at where Luka is waiting for her, "I mean, we could get Daniel to enchant the music for us, so you aren't face planting every five minutes."

"That's a perfect idea!" Rebel takes off for the ice again, going and searching for the olive skinned boy.

"Enchant the music?" Ivan raises an eyebrow at that, standing and holding a hand out to Mylène.

"Yep. All my classmates are magics, including me. Suerste is a school for magic students." Marinette grins back at him, taking off for the ice, "Come on. I'll introduce you all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! I finally finished this. I have thoughts for a part two story to this, but I probably won't get around to them anytime soon. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!


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